Miracle in Nepal: Two Men Pulled Alive from Tunnel After Nine Days

Rescuers in Nepal pulled two men alive from a mud-filled hydropower tunnel nine days after a massive flood devastated parts of the Himalayas. Video released by the Energy Ministry showed rescuers cheering as one man emerged from the opening. They helped him stand, then carried him on their backs to a helicopter.

A photograph showed the second survivor, covered in mud, clasping his hands in prayer as rescuers carried him on a stretcher. The men were identified as 45-year-old worker Kabir Maharjan and 30-year-old mechanic Sanjay Shah. Nepal’s army said both were receiving medical treatment.

The men were among hundreds of hydropower workers who disappeared after the Aug. 26 disaster. A huge collapse of glacier ice and rock along the China-Nepal border triggered a torrent of mud and debris that swept through the region. Nepal’s foreign minister, Shisir Khanal, called the wave caused by the rock and ice avalanche a “Himalayan tsunami.”

Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said rescue work was continuing at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, while searches were also taking place elsewhere. Floods destroyed at least 12 hydropower projects. The government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could still be alive in several tunnels. The disaster killed at least 1,200 people in China and Nepal, while more than 5,000 remained missing.

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Himalayan tsunami