At least two people have been pulled alive from a hydropower project tunnel buried by debris in Trishuli, nine days after a deadly flash flood swept through at least three districts in Nepal, raising hopes that others could still be trapped inside. Local television news channels aired videos and images of mud-covered workers being carried from the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project on a rescuer's shoulder.
The two people who have been rescued are identified as Kabir Maharjan and Sanjay Shah, Nepal's Home Minister Sudan Gurung said.
Shah, 30, is a mechanical foreman with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), while Maharjan, 45, is a supervisor at the Trishuli-3 'A' Hydropower Project.
"I am so happy, my heart is lighter," Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told news agency AFP.
According to a BBC report, when rescued, Shah was not in a condition to talk and was airlifted to Battar, northwest of the capital Kathmandu.
Maharjan's wife, meanwhile, told the British broadcaster that her husband was conscious when pulled out of the tunnel and was getting ready to go to Chhauni Hospital, a military hospital also in Kathmandu.
The rescue came nine days after the August 26 floods, likely caused by a glacier collapse, that devastated towns and valleys in Nepal. Local media reports claimed that more voices were heard as rescue efforts continued at the Trishul 3A tunnel.
Visuals of Rescue
A video shared by a Nepali lawmaker showed rescuers cheering as one man was pulled from a muddy opening and was helped to his feet by rescuers.
Another photograph showed the second man caked in mud, his hands pressed together in prayer, as rescuers carried him away on an orange stretcher.
More Rescue Ops Underway
Rescue operations are also taking place at half a dozen other hydropower tunnels in which more than 150 people are feared to be trapped.
About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities. Engineers have been pumping air into these tunnels as part of the huge rescue operation.
The catastrophic flooding in Nepal has claimed at least 1,259 lives, and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to the country's disaster management agency. China, as of late Wednesday, said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.
Nepal's Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remain hopeful that more workers will be rescued.
“We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” Timilsina wrote on his Facebook page.
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