2 trapped workers rescued from a hydropower tunnel 9 days after Nepal floods

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers in Nepal pulled two workers alive from a hydropower tunnel Friday, raising hopes of reaching a dozen others believed to be trapped nine days after catastrophic floods devastated towns and swept away villages.

The two men were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A construction site, where the search for others is ongoing.

Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane posted about the second rescue on his Facebook page shortly after army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet confirmed the first trapped worker’s rescue. Basnet said one of the survivors told rescuers that more people were still alive inside the tunnel.

Officials identified the two men as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor.

Rescuers first heard voices from inside the tunnel Friday morning, confirming that people were alive and allowing them to locate the two men, Neupane said.

Local television news channels showed images of the first rescued worker covered in mud and being carried from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder. One of the survivors was in a critical condition, according to a statement from the Nepal prime minister’s office. Both men were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.

“I can’t explain what we are feeling at the moment. We are just grateful to god,” Amir Maharjan, brother to one of the rescued workers, told The Associated Press. He said the family was on its way to the hospital to see him.

At least 557 workers are missing from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.

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.

About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities.

At least 1,259 people were killed in the Aug. 26 floods, likely caused by a glacier collapse, and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency. China said late Wednesday that 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.

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Saaliq reported from New Delhi.