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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s deadly Nepal floods<\/a>, according to army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Sanjay Shah was foreman at Upper Trishuli 3A and Kabir Maharjan was a supervisor.<\/p>\n Nepal\u2019s 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\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n Officials said the two men were in stable condition and have been flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.<\/p>\n Speaking to army officials after he was rescued, Shah\u2019s first question was: \u201cwhat day is it?\u201d.<\/p>\n Describing his ordeal to rescuers, Shah said he had been in the tunnel\u2019s control room at the time of the flood.<\/p>\n \u201cUsually there would be only five or six people there but at this time there must have been around 40 to 45 people inside,\u201d he said. \u201cSince I was in the control room, my responsibility was to save everyone\u2019s lives. After such an accident, I couldn\u2019t just run away by myself. I had to save everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile 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\u2019t get out myself.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThey 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nepal\u2019s communication minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remain hopeful that more workers will be rescued. \u201cWe are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,\u201d Timilsina wrote on social media.<\/p>\n 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 \u200cthe collapse of a melting glacier<\/a> on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.<\/a><\/p>\n A survivor is carried out after being rescued from inside the tunnel.
Photograph: Nepal Army\/Reuters<\/p>\n