Nepal flood rescue teams pull two workers alive from buried tunnel

Nine days after a flash flood struck Nepal, rescuers brought two workers out alive from a buried tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant.

Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha announced that one person had been “safely rescued from the tunnel.” Interior Minister Sudan Gurung soon confirmed that a second worker had also been rescued.

The rescue came as the scale of the disaster continued to grow. The death toll after a glacier collapse in the Himalayas between Nepal and Tibet reached at least 1,280. Nepal’s disaster management authorities reported 1,259 bodies recovered, while Chinese state media had earlier reported 21 deaths in Tibet.

Preliminary estimates put the flood damage in Nepal at at least $2.56 billion, according to the country’s disaster authorities. Agency chief Dharma Raj Upreti said about 20,000 homes would need to be rebuilt, including at least 7,500 that had been destroyed.

The estimated reconstruction cost for the first four months stands at about $52.6 million. Officials cautioned that detailed damage assessments had not yet been completed.

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safely rescued from the tunnel