Two hydropower workers have been rescued alive from a debris-filled tunnel in Nepal, offering a rare breakthrough on the 10th day of rescue operations following catastrophic flooding in the Himalayan country.
Rescuers pulled the two men, identified as 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan and 30-year-old Sanjay Sah, from the tunnel on Friday after they were trapped by debris during the August 26 disaster.
Footage released by Nepal’s energy ministry showed rescuers cheering as one of the men was brought through a muddy opening and taken towards a helicopter. The second worker was carried out on a stretcher, covered in mud and with his hands clasped in prayer.
“As long as there is breath, there is hope!” Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said, adding that rescue operations were continuing in other affected tunnels.
Sah, speaking shortly after his rescue, said he survived by praying while trapped in darkness and suggested that other workers could still be inside the tunnel.
“There were as many as 40 or 45 people,” he said, recalling the moment the disaster struck.
Both rescued workers were reported to be in stable condition in a Kathmandu hospital.
The disaster, triggered by a massive rock and ice avalanche near the China-Nepal border, unleashed what Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal described as a “Himalayan tsunami”, destroying roads, bridges and several hydropower facilities.
Nepal’s disaster authority said 1,294 bodies had been recovered and 5,053 people remained missing as of Friday night. In China, authorities reported 31 deaths and 531 missing persons, bringing the overall toll to 1,325 dead and 5,584 missing.
More than 800 foreigners from at least 34 countries are reportedly among the missing.
The United Nations has warned that the scale of destruction is making aid delivery extremely difficult, with cargo drones and porters being considered to reach isolated communities.
UN Nepal chief Lila Pieters Yahia on Friday launched a $50 million appeal to support more than 84,000 people affected by the disaster.