Two workers have been miraculously pulled alive out of tunnels nine days after the glacier trigger flood.
According to Sky News, in the emotional yet hopeful moments on Friday, September 4, two workers trapped in the hydropower tunnel have been rescued more than a week after the flood that killed more than 1,200 people.
Nepal’s army and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority confirmed that the rescued workers include 30-year-old mechanical foreman named Sanjay Sah and 45-year-old mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan.
The recue gave a light of hope for the rest of the hundreds of the trapped workers in the tunnel.
As per the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, at least 557 workers are missing from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel.
Grateful to God
Reacting to the rescue, Nepal's communication minister Bikram Timilsina wrote on Facebook, “We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people.”
Both of the workers were flown to the hospital in Khatmandu for the medical examination.
Amir Maharjan, the brother of one of the rescued workers, told AP, “I can’t explain what we are feeling at the moment. We are just grateful to God,” adding that the family is on its way to the hospital to see him.
The local officials said that about 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal.
Authorities in Nepal say at least 1,287 people were killed and more than 5,000 remain missing after the August 26 disaster, which is believed to have been set off by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the border between Nepal and China’s Tibet region.
Rescue efforts are also still underway in China, where a mudslide hit a major land crossing between the two countries, with the only road to the site in Tibet’s Gyirong county fully reopening only on Wednesday.
Chinese officials say at least 21 people were killed and 541 are missing on the Tibet side of the border.
