Nepal: Two Workers Rescued Alive From Trisuli 3A Tunnel
Sanjay Shah and Kabir Maharjan were pulled alive from the main tunnel of the Trisuli 3A hydropower project in Rasuwa district, nine days after the August 26 flood.
Two workers were pulled out alive on Friday, September 4, from the main tunnel at the Trisuli 3A hydropower construction site in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, nine days after a flood wave buried tens of kilometers of tunnel systems across the country. It is the first rescue of survivors from any of Nepal’s hydropower construction sites since the disaster began on August 26, and it reshapes the odds for roughly 500 people still believed trapped in similar tunnels.
The rescued men are Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor. Their names were released by Sudan Gurung, Nepal’s home minister. Both men spent nine days in the tunnel, from the moment the flood hit the site on August 26, and were flown by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu for further treatment.
"I can't explain what we feel right now. We're just grateful to God," Amir Maharjan, Kabir Maharjan's brother, told the Associated Press.
According to the Nepali Army, one of the two survivors told rescuers there are still people alive inside the tunnel, and the search in that section of the site has continued without a break since. It is the only concrete lead so far on the fate of the hundreds of workers still listed as trapped.
How many workers are still trapped in the tunnels
At least 557 workers went missing from the Trisuli 3A site, and around 115 of them are believed to have been inside the main tunnel when the flood struck. Across all the hydropower projects hit by the disaster, roughly ten of them, the number of missing workers tops 900, and about 500 are still listed as trapped inside tunnels.
Investigators believe the flood was triggered by the partial collapse of a high-altitude glacier on the border between Nepal and Tibet, the part of China under Chinese administration. The wall of water, rock and mud tore down the Himalayan valleys on August 26, and nine days on, the latest official figures put the confirmed death toll in Nepal at no fewer than 1,287, with more than 5,000 people listed as missing. Infrastructure damage is estimated at 387.5 billion Nepali rupees, about 2.5 billion dollars.
International help widens
Nepal had largely turned down offers of international search assistance until now, but made an exception on Friday. Australia sent a 15-strong team of drone specialists that day, most of them from state emergency services, joining the search at the Nepali government’s request. Experts from India, China and South Korea are already taking part in the operations.
"We're still hopeful that people could survive in some places, and we're hoping this team will help find those people," Jeremy Fewtrell, commissioner of Fire and Rescue New South Wales, told reporters at Sydney airport.
Nepali authorities also said on Friday that they remain confident more workers will be rescued, though nine days underground with no reliable access to air or water leaves less and less room for optimism with each passing day.
The rescue of Sanjay Shah and Kabir Maharjan stands alone for now, but it is the first of its kind in two weeks of searching that had, until Friday, produced almost nothing but grim numbers. Whether other workers from the Trisuli 3A tunnel join them in the coming days depends on how quickly rescue teams can cut a path through the mud and debris to the spot where, according to one of the survivors, signs of life could still be heard.
