Rescuers pulled two workers alive from a flooded tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant in Nepal on Friday, nine days after a devastating glacier collapse and flash flood trapped workers underground and left hundreds missing.
Teams working at the site successfully extracted the two men in quick succession from a small hole bored into the tunnel structure, as rescue crews reported hearing even more voices trapped inside.
The Trishuli 3A Tunnel Operation and the Nine-Day Ordeal
The August 26 floods struck when a glacier collapsed and flooded the Trishuli River. The deluge swept mud, huge rocks, and debris into underground passages, collapsing sections and trapping workers. Dozens of people had been working inside the 2.5-mile-long tunnel that leads to an underground powerhouse when the disaster hit.
As the days went by, hopes had been fading for the safe rescue of the workers at the plants that run along the river, which include foreigners from China, South Korea, and India. However, a desperate operation to bore into the tunnel punched through to the trapped workers on Friday. Officials identified the two men as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor. Local television news channels shared images of the worker covered in mud and being carried from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder. Dramatic video obtained by CNN also showed about a dozen rescuers pulling a man from a small hole in the ground and clapping as he reached safety.
Following their extraction, both men were placed under immediate medical observation, army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said. Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane posted about the second rescue on his Facebook page shortly after army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet confirmed the first trapped worker’s rescue during the operation at the tunnel. The rescue came amid a desperate operation to bore into the tunnel to search for 42 workers who remained unaccounted for following the deadly August 26 floods. As the two men were rescued on Friday, search crews “heard voices,” Bigpin Regmi, police chief in the hard-hit district of Nuwakot, told CNN. Officials present at the rescue site said rescuers believe some people may still be alive inside the tunnel. At least 557 workers are missing from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.
Scale of Hydropower Devastation Across Nepal
The tragedy at Trishuli 3A is part of a nationwide catastrophe. Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, said floods damaged at least 12 hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, with a combined capacity of 670 MW. Four were under construction, seven operational, and one in testing phase, he said. Hydropower projects undergo risk assessments and other studies before construction, but Dangi called the Aug. 26 flooding something unimaginable.
Across these project sites, about 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities. The disaster’s overall human toll is immense. At least 1,259 people were killed and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to the country’s disaster management agency. China, as of late Wednesday, said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.
| Disaster Metric | Reported Figure |
|---|---|
| Total confirmed deaths in Nepal | At least 1,259 |
| Missing people in Nepal (all regions) | More than 5,000 |
| Missing hydropower workers nationwide | About 900 |
| Workers estimated trapped in tunnels | About 500 |
| Damaged hydropower projects | 12 projects (670 MW combined capacity) |
Access Hurdles and Warnings From Disaster Experts
The operation to reach the remaining workers has encountered punishing logistical barriers. The biggest challenge for rescuers is reaching them. Many of Nepal’s hydropower projects are in remote, mountainous areas where steep terrain and narrow roads can make access difficult. Flooding has worsened conditions, damaging roads and limiting routes to some sites. Rescuers also are facing tunnels that are blocked or damaged, as floods swept mud, huge rocks, and debris into underground passages, collapsing sections and trapping workers. Even where tunnel entrances are accessible, crews must clear large amounts of debris before reaching deeper sections, which obscures the locations of workers.
Filmmaker and drone pilot Manish Maharjan, who has been volunteering with the Nepalese army, said some tunnels were filled with mud like toothpaste in a tube.
At one hydropower project, he used a drone to search to the end of a tunnel but found no sign of life. Some workers called for help during early hours after floods, while others who escaped said colleagues remained underground. It was not clear whether rescuers had since made contact with those workers or whether they were still alive.
Experts say the first 72 hours after a disaster can be critical. People trapped underground may survive without food for some time, but limited drinking water and breathable air can quickly become life-threatening. Anil Pokhrel, a disaster risk reduction expert and former head of Nepal’s disaster authority, said the flooding exposed weaknesses in Nepal’s rescue capacity. He said rescuers lost valuable time locating the tunnel’s exact entry point and coordinates and lacked heavy equipment and adequately trained personnel.
“Harsh and remote locations with inclement weather worsened the situation. Also, we didn’t have adequately trained human resources to undertake such operations,” Anil Pokhrel said.
Nepal has more than a century of experience building tunnels but remains poorly prepared for complex tunnel rescues, Pokhrel said. We are focused on tunnel design and construction but are not adequately prepared for rescue operations,
he said. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, a Nepal Army spokesperson, said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects, and army footage showed rescuers entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud, and climbing over rocks as they searched for the missing.
