Nine days after a flash flood erased the boundary between labor and catastrophe along Nepal's Trishuli River, two men emerged alive from the darkness of a hydropower tunnel — a single word, 'okay,' echoing upward through the stone as proof that survival had held on. The disaster, which has claimed more than 1,200 lives and left 5,000 unaccounted for across the Nepal-Tibet border region, buried hundreds of workers in the tunnel networks that thread through the region's hydropower sites. Their rescue is not an ending, but a fragile opening — a reminder that hope, like oxygen, must be actively pu
Two rescued from Nepal hydropower tunnel nine days after devastating flash flood
Over 1,200 people killed and 5,000 missing in the flash flood; hundreds of laborers trapped in hydropower tunnels with ongoing rescue operations.
My heart is lighter. The entire family is very happy.
Mark
What made these two men findable when so many others are still missing?
Mimi
They were in a sealed tunnel—the Trishuli 3A—which meant they had an air pocket and a contained space. Rescuers could hear them, pump oxygen to them, work methodically. The men who are still missing are scattered across multiple tunnel systems, some of which may have collapsed or flooded completely.
Luke
Do we know how many of the 5,000 missing are actually in these tunnels versus swept away by the flood itself? The reporting doesn't separate those numbers.
Mark
Nine days is a long time to survive without food or water. How did these men manage?
Mimi
The source doesn't give us those details—we don't know what conditions were like inside, whether there was water to drink, how they stayed conscious or calm. That's a gap in what we know right now.
Luke
Exactly. We're getting the rescue story, which is real and important, but not the survival story. Those are different things.
Mark
The brother said his heart is lighter. That's a small phrase but it carries a lot.
Mimi
It does. After nine days of not knowing if your brother is alive, that moment of confirmation—that he's not just alive but smiling, thankful—it's the difference between grief and relief. The family had been holding their breath.
Luke
Though we should note we're only hearing from the family of one rescued man. We don't have statements from Shah's family or details about his condition beyond that he needed oxygen. The story is still unfolding.
The Pulse
- A flash flood along the Trishuli River killed over 1,200 people and left 5,000 missing, trapping hundreds of laborers inside hydropower tunnels where they have remained for nine days.
- Rescuers heard voices in the dark and called out into the tunnel; a faint 'okay' confirmed that life had survived where silence had reigned for over a week.
- Two men — mechanical foreman Sanjaya Shah and laborer Kabir Maharjan — were extracted alive, with Shah requiring immediate oxygen support upon emergence.
- More than 150 workers remain trapped across half a dozen hydropower sites, with engineers pumping air into tunnels and teams racing against time to reach them.
- Authorities expect at least 42 survivors to be pulled from the Trishuli 3A site alone, and each rescue now carries the weight of hope for the families still waiting.
Nine days after a flash flood erased the boundary between labor and catastrophe along Nepal's Trishuli River, two men emerged alive from the darkness of a hydropower tunnel — a single word, 'okay,' echoing upward through the stone as proof that survival had held on. The disaster, which has claimed more than 1,200 lives and left 5,000 unaccounted for across the Nepal-Tibet border region, buried hundreds of workers in the tunnel networks that thread through the region's hydropower sites. Their rescue is not an ending, but a fragile opening — a reminder that hope, like oxygen, must be actively pumped into the places where people wait.
Nine days after a flash flood devastated Nepal's border region with Tibet — killing more than 1,200 and leaving 5,000 unaccounted for — rescuers pulled two men alive from the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project tunnel along the Trishuli River. Sanjaya Shah, a mechanical foreman with Nepal's Electricity Authority, was the first extracted, followed shortly by Kabir Maharjan. Shah required immediate oxygen support, but both men were alive.
The breakthrough came when rescuers heard voices deep within the tunnel and called into the darkness. A faint 'okay' came back — a single word that broke nine days of silence. For Kabir Maharjan's brother Amir, the news lifted a weight that had pressed on the entire family since the disaster struck. Authorities described Kabir as smiling and thankful when brought to safety.
The two rescues, however, are only the beginning. Officials expect at least 42 people to be pulled from the Trishuli 3A site, while more than 150 workers remain trapped across half a dozen hydropower tunnel networks in the region. Engineers have been pumping oxygen into the passages to keep survivors alive as teams continue their work. For colleagues like Suresh Chaudhari, who had been waiting anxiously for word of Shah, the rescue carried a larger meaning: 'This has given hope that others will also be rescued alive.'
Nine days after a flash flood tore through Nepal's border region with Tibet, killing more than 1,200 people and leaving 5,000 unaccounted for, rescuers pulled two men alive from a hydropower tunnel on the Trishuli River. The two survivors emerged from the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, where they had been trapped since the disaster struck. One of them, Sanjaya Shah, a mechanical foreman with Nepal's Electricity Authority, was the first to be extracted. The second, Kabir Maharjan, followed shortly after. Both men were alive, though Shah required immediate oxygen support from rescue teams at the site.
The moment of contact had come after rescuers heard voices echoing from deep within the tunnel. They called out into the darkness: "Don't panic, we are here to rescue you." A faint response came back—"okay"—a single word that confirmed what rescue workers had been hoping for across nine days of uncertainty. The extraction itself represented a turning point in a catastrophe that had swallowed hundreds of workers laboring in a vast network of tunnels that honeycomb the hydropower sites along the river.
Kabir Maharjan's brother, Amir, spoke to news agencies after learning of the rescue. "My heart is lighter," he said. "The entire family is very happy." For Amir and his family, the news broke a nine-day silence that had held the weight of not knowing. Authorities described Kabir as having "smiled and was thankful" when brought to safety, a small gesture that carried the measure of what survival meant after more than a week in darkness and uncertainty.
The rescue of these two men, however, represents only the beginning of a much larger operation. Officials told the BBC that they expect at least 42 people to be rescued from the Trishuli 3A site alone. Across the region, rescue teams are working at half a dozen hydropower tunnels where more than 150 workers remain trapped. The scale of the operation reflects the scope of the disaster: hundreds of the 5,000 still missing are laborers working in these tunnel networks, men who were underground when the flood struck and have remained there ever since.
Rescue teams have deployed an array of methods to reach the trapped workers. Engineers have been pumping air into the hydropower tunnels as a critical part of the massive rescue effort, keeping oxygen flowing to anyone still alive in the passages. Suresh Chaudhari, a colleague of Sanjaya Shah's at the Electricity Authority, expressed what the rescue meant to those waiting. "I am so, so happy, I have been waiting for the news," he told the BBC. "This has given hope that others will also be rescued alive." That hope now anchors the ongoing search through the tunnels, where rescue teams continue their work against the clock and the weight of a disaster that has already claimed more than 1,200 lives.
Notable Quotes
My heart is lighter. The entire family is very happy.— Amir Maharjan, brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan
I am so, so happy, I have been waiting for the news. This has given hope that others will also be rescued alive.— Suresh Chaudhari, colleague of rescued foreman Sanjaya Shah
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