Two workers trapped inside a hydropower tunnel in Nepal for nine days following devastating flash floods were rescued alive on Friday, offering a rare breakthrough amid a catastrophe that has killed over 1,200 people and left thousands missing across the Himalayan region.
The Dramatic Rescue at Trishuli 3A
Emergency teams pulled the two men from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River in Nepal’s border district of Rasuwa. The survivors were identified as mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah, 30, and mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan, 45, according to Nepal’s army and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Rescue operations intensified after teams heard voices from inside the buried structure. Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane, an engineer assisting with the search, posted on social media that rescuers established contact before the extraction. When the rescue team said, ‘Don’t panic, we are rescuing,’ a response of ‘yes’ was received from inside,
Neupane wrote.
Following their extraction, both men were flown by the Nepali army to a hospital in Kathmandu for medical treatment. Amir Maharjan, the brother of one of the survivors, expressed profound relief. I can’t explain what we are feeling at the moment. We are just grateful to God,
he told reporters.
WhatsApp Guidance and Engineering Coordination
An army of experts organized in a WhatsApp messaging group with more than 500 members guided rescue workers scouring the devastated valley. Engineers, government officials, and military personnel shared facility diagrams and blueprints to help locate trapped personnel.
When teams struggled to locate buried infrastructure, government officials requested project drawings through the chat. Minutes later, participants supplied detailed schematics of powerhouses and access tunnels, assisting operations at Chilime and other sites.
Scale of Destruction and Unfolding Toll
The flash floods were triggered on August 26 by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region. The deluge deposited 2.2 million tonnes of mud and debris down the valley, according to reporting on the debris accumulation. Nepal army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet noted that the flood has altered the terrain around the tunnels and changed their structure, while mud, rocks, soil and other debris had accumulated inside.
Official figures place the death toll in Nepal at 1,287, with more than 5,000 people remaining missing, according to the disaster management agency. Across the border in Tibet, Chinese officials reported 21 deaths and 541 missing. According to Nepal’s disaster agency, the flooding caused significant damage to infrastructure and property. Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal figures indicate that at least 557 workers remain missing from the Trishuli project alone, with roughly 115 believed trapped inside the main tunnel.
International Assistance and Ongoing Search Operations
In Tibet, authorities fully reopened the only road leading to the Gyirong border crossing, allowing heavy machinery to reach the core disaster zone to clear blocked routes and support search operations.
While communications and transport links are gradually being restored, officials remain cautious about the remaining rescue prospects. Nepal’s communication minister, Bikram Timilsina, shared an optimistic outlook on social media: We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people.
Similarly, Nepal Electricity Authority board member Amshu Kiran Shahi emphasized that teams remain determined to re-enter chambers where survivors might still have access to stored food and water.
Unresolved Questions in the Disaster Zone
With hundreds of workers still unaccounted for across multiple hydroelectric facilities, authorities continue to balance the physical hazards of unstable mud-filled terrain against the narrowing window for survival.
