Rescue crews in Nepal pulled two workers out alive from a hydropower tunnel on the event date, nine days after floods tore through the Himalayan region and left thousands of people dead or missing.
The men were identified by Nepal's army and disaster authorities as Sanjay Sah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor. Their rescue from the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant in Rasuwa District offered a rare moment of hope in a disaster that has otherwise overwhelmed search operations across the country.
According to the NBC report in the packet, the workers were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu for treatment after being recovered from the tunnel. A body was also found during the operation. The rescue itself was part of a much larger effort involving army personnel, police officers and technical experts who have been trying to reach workers trapped across multiple hydropower projects.
The scale of the problem remains severe. Local officials and industry groups said more than 900 workers are missing from about a dozen hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed trapped in tunnels. In the Trishuli 3A case alone, officials believed about 115 workers may still have been inside the main tunnel, and rescuers said they could hear voices from within.
The flood damage has made the rescue work exceptionally difficult. Roads were washed out, sections of tunnels collapsed and entrances were blocked by mud and debris. Weather conditions and air-quality concerns added to the challenge, while teams used controlled blasts, excavators and other heavy equipment to try to reach those still inside.
One of the rescued workers described the experience as a fight to stay hopeful. The packet says Sah told authorities he spent his days underground chanting mantras while hearing others trapped and calling out for help. That detail underscores how long the men had been cut off from the outside world and how uncertain the wider rescue picture remains.
Officials did not treat the two rescues as the end of the operation. Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said one survivor believed more people could still be alive in the tunnel, and the communication minister said the government was waiting for further rescues. The rescue work is continuing in parallel with the recovery of bodies from other sites, including a separate tunnel at the Langtang Hydropower Project.
The floods themselves have been devastating. Authorities in Nepal say at least 1,294 people were killed and more than 5,000 remain missing after the Aug. 26 disaster, which is believed to have been triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse near the border with China's Tibet region. The disaster agency estimated the damage to infrastructure and property at 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees, or about $2.5 billion.
The rescue of Sah and Maharjan does not change the scale of that catastrophe, but it does show that rescue teams are still finding survivors in places where hopes were fading. For families, that matters as much as the numbers. In a disaster defined by mud, collapsed tunnels and missing workers, even two lives brought back to daylight is a significant result.
Nepal has also announced a national day of mourning for Sept. 7. For now, though, the focus remains on the tunnels, the missing and the crews trying to reach them before the next section gives way or another rescue window closes.
