KATHMANDU: Two hydropower workers were pulled from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal on Friday (Sept 4), more than a week after catastrophic flooding swept through the area, government ministers said.
Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled from a muddy opening, video released by the energy ministry showed. He was helped to his feet by rescuers.
A photograph showed the second man caked in mud, his hands pressed together in prayer, as rescuers carried him away on an orange stretcher.
The men were named as Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor, by Home Minister Sudan Gurung.
"I am so happy, my heart is lighter," Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told AFP.
The two are among hundreds of hydropower workers missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on Aug 26.
Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha confirmed that one person had been safely rescued from the Trishuli 3A tunnel, followed shortly afterwards by a second.
"We have just received news that another person... has also been rescued," Gurung said in a statement.
The government had initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive inside multiple tunnels. Searches were continuing at Trishuli 3A and other sites.
Rescue teams in Nepal have recovered more than 1,250 bodies, and more than 5,000 are missing, after the gigantic wave triggered by a rock and ice avalanche roared down the China-Nepal border.
Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix, who has advised on multiple tunnel-collapse rescues, has been supporting the operation remotely and is travelling to Nepal to support teams on the ground.
Earlier Friday, Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, said teams at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project believed they had heard a faint response from inside the tunnel.
He said rescuers had called into the tunnel: "Don't worry, we are rescuing you."
"They believe they received a faint response from inside saying, 'hunchha', yes or OK," Dix told AFP, adding that he was en route to Nepal to join the rescue effort.
"Right now, I'm 'glass three-quarters full'... After a week of 24/7 heartache, we might, just, be back in miracle country," he said.
Dix said teams had dug through debris blocking the tunnel for 50 to 60 metres (164-196 feet) and had been hoping for a breakthrough at any moment.
Less than an hour later, rescuers pulled the two men to safety. - AFP
