Tunnel Miracle Stuns Rescuers

After nine days underground, two Nepali tunnel workers were pulled out alive from the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower project, a rare rescue in a disaster that wiped out whole worksites.

Story Highlights

Rescuers found Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan alive inside a Trishuli 3A tunnel.
A joint team led by the Nepal Army carried out the extraction.
Officials tie the entrapment to a wall of ice, rock, and debris that hit the valley.
A lawmaker and tunnel engineer says the men survived in an air pocket.

What Rescuers Confirmed Happened Inside the Trishuli 3A Tunnel

Officials said a surge of ice, rock, and mud struck the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station valley. The blow buried portals and flooded tunnels. Nine days later, teams reached two men inside a tunnel and brought them out alive. Authorities identified them as mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah and mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan. The rescue happened at the Trishuli 3A site on the Trishuli River, where work crews had been missing after the flood disaster.

Nepal Army spokesperson Rajaram Basnet said both workers were found alive in the project tunnel. He said a joint team led by the Nepal Army, with Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force, and technical experts, carried out the operation. Crews had battled water, mud, and debris for days. The successful extraction offered a breakthrough after a long search for many missing workers across several damaged hydropower tunnels in the region.

How the Two Men Stayed Alive and How Teams Reached Them

Reuters later quoted lawmaker and tunnel engineer Shri Ram Neupane, who helped lead the rescue, saying the pair survived in an air-filled chamber. That detail helps explain how they endured the nine-day wait underground. Search leaders described draining water, removing debris, and boring into the tunnel to reach possible survivable pockets. The Guardian reported the men were recovered from deep inside the bore, underscoring the technical challenge of the reach.

Reporters on scene described a complex, step-by-step plan. Teams mapped the tunnel lines, checked for voids, and pushed through slurry using pumps and manual digging. Specialists passed oxygen and safety gear down narrow access points as they advanced. The first successful contact set a clear path to extraction. The rescue was described as a rare bright moment for crews still facing damaged sites and unstable ground after the flash flood event.

Why This Matters Beyond One Tunnel Rescue

This rescue sits inside a larger disaster that hit many hydropower projects at once. Officials and outlets described a wall of ice, rock, and debris that leveled parts of the valley and buried entrances. That scale made basic facts hard to pin down in the first days. Counts of missing and the exact tunnel locations shifted as responders fought through debris and found the right access routes across several sites in the same river system.

Engineers and responders say Himalayan flood and landslide disasters can erase maps, destroy records, and hide worksites. That forces teams to hunt for “survivable pockets” rather than clear rooms. In this case, the Upper Trishuli 3A rescue showed that careful drainage, drilling, and patient search can still find life. It also showed how public agencies and technical experts can coordinate under extreme pressure to deliver results that many had started to doubt.

The Human Story From Inside the Tunnel

After his rescue, Sah said he stayed behind to help others while he was in the control room. That on-record account came through video shared by authorities and reported by outlets after the extraction. His statement speaks to the split-second choices workers made as the flood surged into the tunnel system. It also helps explain why at least two people were found alive days later, after the worst of the water and debris had passed.

Rescuers and engineers now look to apply lessons from Trishuli 3A to other damaged tunnels nearby. The focus remains on locating more safe voids, moving water out, and getting teams inside as fast as safety allows. While reports varied on how many workers may still be underground across projects, the method that saved Sah and Maharjan—map, drain, probe, and dig—offers a tested plan for the next push in a landscape still changed by the flood.