SRINAGAR: Two workers have been rescued alive from a hydropower project tunnel in Nepal’s Trishuli area, nine days after a deadly flash flood buried the entrance under debris, raising hopes that more people could still be trapped inside.
The rescued workers have been identified as Kabir Maharjan and Sanjay Shah, Nepal’s Home Minister Sudan Gurung said.
Local television channels broadcast videos and images showing mud-covered workers being brought out of the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project tunnel on rescuers’ shoulders.
Shah, 30, is a mechanical foreman with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), while Maharjan, 45, works as a supervisor at the Trishuli-3 ‘A’ Hydropower Project. Both men reportedly sustained injuries to their arms and legs, possibly while crawling through the tunnel after flood debris blocked its entrance.
“I am so happy, my heart is lighter,” Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told news agency AFP.
According to the BBC, Shah was unable to speak when he was rescued and was airlifted to Battar, north-west of Kathmandu. Maharjan’s wife told the broadcaster that her husband was conscious when rescuers brought him out and was being prepared for transfer to Chhauni Hospital, a military hospital in Kathmandu.
The rescue operation followed the August 26 floods, which devastated towns and valleys across at least three districts of Nepal. The flooding is believed to have been caused by a glacier collapse.
Local media reports said rescuers heard more voices inside the Trishuli 3A tunnel as the operation continued, raising hopes that additional workers could be found alive.
Nepal’s disaster management agency has reported at least 1,259 deaths in the disaster, while more than 5,000 people remain missing. On the Tibet side of the border, China said late Wednesday that 21 people had been killed and 541 remained missing.
Nepal’s Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remained hopeful that more people could be rescued.
“We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” Timilsina wrote on his Facebook page.
