Two Men Rescued Alive After Nine Days in a Flooded Nepal Tunnel

Two workers have been pulled alive from a flooded tunnel in Nepal after surviving there for nine days. Rescuers found Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan on Friday and flew them to a hospital in Kathmandu. Both men worked at the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project, which makes electricity from water.

On August 26, a glacier collapsed on Langtang Lirung mountain. It sent a huge wave of mud and water down the Trishuli valley. The wave killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet, and it flooded 12 power projects. Sah and Maharjan ran into a short tunnel that sloped upward. They stopped about 160 meters from the exit. A small pocket of air in that corner kept them alive. Sah repeated Hindu prayers to stay calm. Maharjan drank the same muddy water he was lying in.

Rescuers could not dig quickly because the ground was full of water and mud. Rain filled the hole again and again. On the tenth day after the disaster, at 4 a.m., teams heard noises. They stopped the machines and saw a hand in the light. A soldier broke through a small hole and heard "hunuhuncha," which means "we are here." Sah was carried out on a rescuer's back, and Maharjan left on a stretcher. At the hospital, Maharjan did not recognize his wife at first.

The search is not over. About 115 workers may still be trapped in the main tunnel, and one survivor said there could be other people alive inside.