Two workers rescued alive after 9 days
Just after dawn on Friday, a faint reply became the first voice rescuers had heard from inside the buried Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel since the Aug 26 flood. By 9.20am, two workers had been pulled out alive after nine days underground – the first such breakthrough from Nepal’s flood-hit hydropower tunnels. The men were identified as mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah, 30, and mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan, 45. Officials believe around 41 workers could be trapped in the tunnel. Rescuers then found a gap about 1.5 metres wide near the tunnel roof. Australian tunnelling expert Arnold Dix, referring separately to the route towards the underground powerhouse, estimated that rescuers had tunnelled through about 60m and still had roughly 150 metres to go. A seven-member specialised team crawled through sections for 15-20 minutes at a stretch, encountering mud, sludge, rocks and collapsed overhead slabs.
Engineer and lawmaker Shriram Neupane, who was involved in the operation, said rescuers first confirmed that more than one person was responding.
KATHMANDU: “Hunchha” – yes, we hear you. Nepal army personnel called out, “Brothers, we are a rescue team, we are coming,” and heard “Hunchha, hunchha” from the other side. A third person was later found dead inside; officials said the swollen body could not immediately be identified. “Soon after the flood, Nepal Army’s Special Forces, Combat Engineers and Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue teams were deployed here,” Lt Col Ganga Baral, who commanded the operation, said. By Friday morning, Nepal army said teams had reached about 100m inside the tunnel. Dix, who advised the operation, said rescuers faced conditions without precedent. So you just have to start digging in the right direction,” he said. He described the wider rescue effort as something “the world has not seen before”. “The fact that voices were heard from inside was an encouraging sign,” he said. “We did not hear any other voices,” a rescuer said. By afternoon, teams said they had reached the farthest accessible section, though project engineers were considering another inspection of possible spaces before calling off the tunnel search.
Sah was stable, while Maharjan was admitted to intensive care. “Although it took some time to get the result, we eventually succeeded in rescuing two people alive. They worked through it, carving a passage barely large enough for a person while clearing sludge ahead. “We knew they would be up ahead, but we didn’t know where exactly. The seven-storey underground powerhouse offered one reason for hope. Rescue teams found the lower two levels filled with mud while higher sections had retained space, potentially providing air pockets. Oxygen was pumped forward as crews advanced. Then came the voice. The search continued after the celebration. They found the unidentified body.