Two workers were rescued alive from the Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal on Friday, nine days after a flash flood devastated the Nepal‑China border region. The men, identified by the Nepalese army as a senior engineer and a foreman, were pulled from a depth of about 170 metres after rescuers breached a collapsed entrance and cleared thousands of tonnes of mud and rock.
The rescue comes after the late‑August flash flood, described by the BBC as "one of the worst in recent memory," which sent a torrent of water and glacial melt down the Trishuli River, destroying roads, villages and burying sections of several hydropower projects under meters of debris.
Rescue effort
According to a New York Times report, the operation was coordinated by the Nepali army with technical advice from an Australian engineer who monitored progress through a WhatsApp group of engineers on the ground. Rescuers first had to locate a buried tunnel entrance that had been completely obscured by sediment. They then used explosives to break up rocks "the size of cars," as described by the BBC, and drilled a narrow shaft to reach the trapped workers.
Once a breach was created, rescue teams lowered a rope system and manually pulled the two men out, despite the tunnel being flooded and the air quality severely compromised. The men emerged covered in mud, weak but alive, and were taken to a field hospital for treatment, where they are now receiving medical care, Reuters reported.
"Two workers were rescued after nine days trapped 170 metres underground," the BBC noted, calling the operation a "layer upon layer of miracles."
Missing workers and ongoing search
Authorities say that more than 40 workers were inside the tunnel complex when the flood struck, but estimates of how many remain missing vary. The Guardian reported that officials believe at least a dozen are still trapped, while other outlets, including Al Jazeera and France 24, have suggested that "hundreds" of laborers could be unaccounted for across multiple hydropower sites.
Families of the missing have turned to symbolic cremations, lighting funeral pyres for straw effigies of their loved ones, as described by the New York Times. DNA testing, highlighted by Al Jazeera, is being used to identify bodies that are badly damaged or decomposed, but the process is expected to take weeks.
Rescue crews continue to drill new access shafts and use remote cameras to locate voids within the collapsed tunnels. The Nepalese government has appealed for international assistance, and engineers from neighboring countries have offered technical support, Reuters said.
The flood has left a death toll in the hundreds and caused severe shortages of food, medicine and clean water in the affected districts, according to France 24. Aid agencies are using zip‑lines and helicopters to deliver supplies to isolated communities while the search for survivors proceeds.
"Every day we discover something new, and every day we hope for another miracle," an army spokesperson told reporters, echoing the sentiment expressed by multiple media outlets.
