Nepal-Tibet flash flood: Two workers pulled alive from hydropower tunnel nine days after disaster

Two people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after deadly flash floods buried the projects in deep mud and left them trapped.

The workers were rescued during an ongoing operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, a hydropower project in one of the areas worst-affected by last week’s deadly Nepal floods, according to army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet.

Sanjay Shah was the first to be rescued and was taken to the Nepal Army barracks in Trishuli. Subsequently, another person, identified as Kabir Maharjan, was also rescued from the tunnel. They were rescued from a depth of 170 metres inside the tunnel, confirmed Basnet.

Sanjay Shah was foreman at Upper Trishuli 3A and Kabir Maharjan was a supervisor.

Nepal’s army released images of Shah being pulled from the small dark entrance of a tunnel. He emerged covered in mud but conscious and was carried from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder.

Officials said the two men were in stable condition and have been flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.

Speaking to army officials after he was rescued, Shah’s first question was: “what day is it?”.

Describing his ordeal to rescuers, Shah said he had been in the tunnel’s control room at the time of the flood.

“Usually there would be only five or six people there but at this time there must have been around 40 to 45 people inside,” he said. “Since I was in the control room, my responsibility was to save everyone’s lives. After such an accident, I couldn’t just run away by myself. I had to save everyone.

“While trying to get everyone out, I told them that there had been a major accident at the dam and urged everyone to run. In doing so, I lost time. In the end, I couldn’t get out myself.”

To keep himself calm in the darkness of the tunnel, Shah said he spent his time chanting mantras. He said that while trapped inside the tunnel, he had only been communicating with three or four others.

“They were communicating by shouting to each other from nearby. There could also be people inside the powerhouse. Some of them may not have been able to escape,” he said.

Nepal’s communication minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remain hopeful that more workers will be rescued. “We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” Timilsina wrote on social media.

Most of the hydropower projects along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers were destroyed when a surge of water, debris and mud came coursing down the valley last week, triggered by ‌the collapse of a melting glacier on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.

At least 1,259 people were killed in the floods and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency.

Rescue efforts have increasingly centred on the hydropower tunnels, where authorities believe workers may ⁠have survived for more than a week due to air pockets. So far, more than 270 people have been rescued across several projects.

Large boulders and flood waters had deluged the hydropower tunnels, blocking off the entrances, and some were buried deep in mud. At the Upper Trishuli 3A facility, it took rescue workers almost six days to find the tunnels.

Army and specialist teams have been working round the clock to try and clear debris from the tunnel entrance. It was confirmed that voices of multiple people had been heard inside after a breakthrough was made on early Friday morning.

After the rescue team called out, “Don’t panic, we are rescuing you,” they received a response from inside: “Okay.”

At least 557 workers are missing from the hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.

Families of those missing in the tunnels have been gathering at the hospitals in Kathmandu and at the Nepal electricity office for nine days, desperate for answers about their relatives. Posters of workers missing in Trishuli 3A and other projects line the wall of Tribhuvan University teaching hospital in Nepal’s capital.

In total, local authorities estimate about 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects high up in the Himalayas, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels.

Rescue efforts have also been focused on Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant where Nepal authorities said they are confident that 46 workers trapped in an underground chamber in the plant are still alive.