2 trapped workers rescued from hydropower tunnel 9 days after Nepal floods
Two workers were rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after catastrophic floods trapped them underground. The survivors, who were airlifted to Kathmandu, were located after rescuers heard their voices, marking a rare success in the aftermath of the disaster.
Why it matters
The rescue highlights the extreme conditions faced by infrastructure workers in disaster-prone regions and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nepal.
The two men were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A construction site. The rescued workers were Sanjay Sah, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha’s office said in a statement.
When the mountain gave way above the Nepali power plant where Sah worked, he said he chose to stay and help instead of fleeing.
"I was in the control room in the tunnel. Normally there are four to six people there, but there could have been 40 to 45 people that day," the 30-year-old told army officials from a stretcher, an oxygen mask strapped to his face, in a video shared by the Nepalese authorities.
"My responsibility was to save everyone's lives. When there was such a big accident, it was not right for me to run away."
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