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Search teams first heard voices from inside the tunnel in the
morning, allowing them to locate the two men, Nepalese lawmaker
Shri Ram Neupane said. Images showed a rescuer carrying one of
the workers, covered in mud, on his back, while soldiers on
either side helped.
One of those rescued said more people are alive inside the
tunnel, according to army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram
Basnet, and the search is ongoing.
“I can’t explain what we are feeling at the moment. We are just
grateful to god,” Amir Maharjan, the brother of one of those
rescued, told The Associated Press.
Basnet confirmed the first trapped worker’s rescue, and Neupane
posted about the second on his Facebook page shortly after.
Both men were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu, and Maharjan
said his family was on its way there. One of the survivors was
in critical condition, according to a statement from the prime
minister’s office.
Officials identified the men as a mechanical foreman and a
mechanical supervisor. They were rescued from a tunnel at the
Trishuli 3A plant.
About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in
Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels,
according to authorities.
About 115 are believed trapped in the tunnel at Trishuli 3A
alone, according to the Independent Power Producers Association
of Nepal.
Nepal’s Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina wrote on his
Facebook page that officials “are waiting for the rescue of more
and more people.”
At least 1,287 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.
Nepal’s disaster agency estimated Friday that flooding caused at
least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.5 billion) in damage to
infrastructure and property.
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