Every passing minute for the past nine days brought Kabir Maharjan's family closer to accepting that he had become another Nepal flood casualty. The Trishuli tunnel worker's father, in moments of despair, would say that the chances of him being dug out from the debris alive were slim to none. Even other family members were secretly preparing themselves for the atrocious news of his death. None of them, however, could shake his mother's dogged belief that her son would return - alive.
Maharjan was one of the two tunnel workers who were rescued after remaining buried inside for nine days following the Nepal floods that have killed nearly 1,300 people and left thousands missing. Experts have described the rescue as nothing short of a miracle.