2 rescued alive from hydropower tunnel 9 days after Nepal floods

Mangalore Today News Network

Kathmandu, Sep 4, 2026: 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, with rescuers calling it a "miracle."

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. Both men reportedly have injuries in their arms and legs, possibly from crawling in the tunnel after the flood covered the entrance. 

"I am so happy, my heart is lighter," Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told news agency AFP.

The prime minister’s office said that Shah, who was in a "stable condition," was airlifted to Battar, northwest of the capital Kathmandu, and Maharjan was taken to Chhauni Hospital, a military hospital also in Kathmandu, where he was put on intensive care.

The two were among hundreds of hydropower workers who had been missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on August 26 after a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain on the China-Nepal border. Local media reports claimed that more voices were heard as rescue efforts continued at the Trishul 3A tunnel.

The tunnel that leads to the underground powerhouse at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project is more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) long.

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.

"As long as there is breath, there is hope!" Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said in a statement.

"Rescue operations are continuing in all the affected tunnels. Let everyone’s efforts and prayers continue. We have not lost hope."

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.