Two workers have been pulled alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal's Trishuli valley, nine days after a catastrophic flash flood buried the region under millions of tonnes of mud and debris. Sanjaya Shah, a foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a project supervisor, were rescued from the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station tunnel in the early hours of Friday morning, having been found approximately 170 metres inside the structure. Shah was described as stable, while Maharjan was taken to intensive care in critical condition with a leg injury and severe jaundice. A body was also recovered during the operation.

The rescue was the result of an extraordinarily complex multi-day effort. The entrance to the tunnel had been completely buried by the flood, forcing engineers to use old topographic maps, satellite imagery, helicopter footage and visible infrastructure such as power poles to triangulate its likely position before digging could even begin. Once inside, rescue teams — coordinated in part through a WhatsApp group of more than 500 engineers and officials — had to blast through boulders the size of cars using controlled explosives, drain standing water by digging trenches to the river outside, and carve a narrow passageway along the roof of the blocked tunnel to reach the survivors. Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association and an adviser to Nepal's hydropower authorities, described the achievement as "layer upon layer of miracles".

Shah said he had been in the tunnel's control room with around 40 to 45 colleagues when the flood struck on 26 August, and had stayed behind to alert others rather than flee immediately. Trapped in total darkness for more than a week, he passed the time by chanting mantras and shouting to other survivors nearby. His first question to rescuers when they reached him was: "What day is it?" Maharjan's wife said he initially did not recognise her and was confused, but gradually began to respond. "We had almost lost hope," she said. "I was so happy that I cried."

The disaster was triggered by the collapse of a melting glacier on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet, sending a surge of water, rock and mud down the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi river valleys. At least 1,287 people have been killed in Nepal, and more than 5,000 remain missing — among them hundreds of foreign pilgrims who were returning from the sacred Tibetan mountain Kailash when the floods hit. Twelve hydropower plants were affected, wiping out around 10% of Nepal's electricity generation capacity. Rescue operations continue at several sites, including the Rasuwagadhi plant further up the valley, where authorities believe as many as 46 workers may still be alive in an underground chamber.

With the two survivors now confirmed, rescue teams say they are pressing deeper into the Trishuli 3A tunnel, aiming to reach the hydropower station roughly 150 metres further inside — a section Dix described as the "Goldilocks zone", where conditions may still be survivable. Significant risks remain, including the threat of water from both ahead and behind the rescue teams. "We have never done something like this before," Dix said, adding that Friday's result had given the team renewed confidence. "Game on — time to take on the house."