Two hydropower workers were rescued alive from a buried tunnel in Nepal on September 4, 2026, nine days after massive flash floods triggered by a glacial collapse killed more than 1,200 people. The dramatic survival breakthrough occurred at the Trishuli 3A project as rescue teams worked through heavy debris.
Emergency crews pulled two men out alive from the debris-choked Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel, providing a rare moment of hope amid a catastrophic natural disaster. The rescue unfolded more than a week after a wall of water, mud, and rocks tore through the region on August 26, following the collapse of a melting glacier on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.
The Rescue Operation at Trishuli 3A
The two survivors were identified as Sanjay Shah, a 30-year-old mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a 45-year-old mechanical supervisor. According to Nepali Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, the men were discovered at a depth of 170 metres inside the tunnel. Local television broadcasts aired footage of the first survivor covered in thick gray mud being carried away from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder.
Rescue teams had spent nearly six days simply trying to locate the buried tunnel entrance beneath layers of soil and heavy boulders. The breakthrough came early Friday morning when workers heard faint voices from within. After calling out Don’t panic, we are rescuing you,
emergency responders received a confirmatory response from the trapped men. Australian tunneling expert Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, noted that teams had heard a faint reply of hunchha,
meaning yes or OK, before digging through 50 to 60 metres of blockage.
“Right now, I’m ‘glass three-quarters full’… After a week of 24/7 heartache, we might, just, be back in miracle country.”
Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
Following their extraction, Sanjay Shah was airlifted to a hospital in Battar, while Kabir Maharjan was prepared for transfer to Chhauni Hospital, a military medical facility in Kathmandu, according to reports from the Energy Ministry.
Engineering Guidance via Real-Time WhatsApp Groups
With traditional infrastructure destroyed and maps rendered obsolete by shifting terrain, rescue operations relied on an unconventional digital lifeline. Engineers established a WhatsApp messaging group before the disaster struck, which quickly expanded to include more than 500 members ranging from military officials to former plant employees.
When rescue teams needed to understand the hidden geography of buried facilities, government officials used the group to request structural documents. In one instance highlighted by reporting from Reuters, an official asked for Chilime layout drawings, and group members promptly supplied schematics detailing access tunnels and powerhouses.
The terrain itself presented unprecedented hurdles. Describing the post-flood topography at the facilities, Arnold Dix told NPR that the landscape looked like a bomb’s gone off,
explaining that the ground level had risen between 30 and 50 feet in places and completely altered the river’s course.
Scale of the Disaster Across Nepal and Tibet
The flash flood that trapped the workers inflicted immense devastation across the Himalayan border region. According to Nepal’s disaster management agency, the confirmed death toll in the country reached 1,259, while more than 5,000 individuals remained missing. Across the border in the Tibet autonomous region, Chinese authorities reported 21 deaths and 541 missing persons.
The flood deposited 2.2 million tonnes of mud and debris down the valley. The wall of water destroyed or heavily damaged roughly a dozen hydropower projects in Nepal, wiping out approximately 10 percent of the nation’s total power generation capacity. Local authorities estimated that about 900 workers were missing from 12 separate hydropower projects, with roughly 500 believed trapped inside subterranean tunnels.
International Assistance and Ongoing Search Efforts
Search and rescue operations involved approximately 21,000 Nepali security personnel working around the clock. Foreign assistance arrived as the crisis persisted, with specialized tunnel rescue teams from India and China deploying early in the operation, followed by teams from South Korea.
With thousands of people still unaccounted for, engineering teams and military units face the question of whether remaining air pockets inside blocked tunnels can sustain additional survivors as the second week of rescue operations progresses.
