‘Second life’: Inside Nepal’s daring rescue mission that pulled out 2 men from a tunnel after 9 days

MIRACLE. This word is often used to describe an extraordinary event that goes beyond the known laws of nature.

And on Friday (September 4), such a miracle occurred in Nepal at the tunnel for the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project, when rescuers pulled two men out alive nine days after devastating floods swept the Himalayan region and left thousands of people dead or missing.

The Nepal Army released images of the dramatic rescue, which showed the first rescued worker covered in mud and being carried from the site on a rescuer’s shoulder. “When hope is alive, even the impossible becomes possible,” the image caption read.

The two rescued men have been taken to hospital for further treatment. The miraculous rescue has also raised hopes that the hundreds of others trapped in these tunnels will also see the light of day very soon.

Who are the 2 workers rescued after deadly flash floods?

After a flash flood tore through the Trishuli River corridor in central Nepal, hundreds of workers are believed to be trapped inside the numerous hydropower tunnels in Nepal. Among them is the tunnel at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project.

Since then, rescue teams led by the Nepal Army have been desperately looking for survivors, trying to clear boulders and slush that blocked the tunnel. And on Friday, nine days after the torrent of water swept through the area, rescue officials pulled out two men from the blocked tunnel to Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station.

The first to be rescued was Sanjay Sah, followed by another worker, identified as Kabir Maharjan. While 30-year-old Sah is a mechanical foreman with the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Maharjan, 45, is a supervisor at the Trishuli-3A Hydropower Project.

Now, both men have been airlifted to Kathmandu, with Sah being treated at Birendra Army Hospital in Chhauni, while Maharjan was taken to the National Trauma Centre.

On hearing of their rescue, Sah and Maharjan’s families are elated. Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir, told AFP, “I am so happy. My heart is lighter.”

Lakshmi Naini, Maharjan’s sister-in-law, also told the news agency, “It’s a miracle! I am very happy. I heard he is alive through social media, and I could not believe it.”

How did the duo survive in the tunnel for so long?

Sah was working in the project’s control room when the flood hit. He noted that the situation started deteriorating rapidly as floodwater and debris started entering the tunnel. Being a senior official, he said his responsibility included helping the other workers inside.

He said he helped others escape but lost his own chance to get out. “While trying to save them, I made everyone run. That cost me time. In the end, I could not get out,” Sah was quoted as telling the Kathmandu Post.

Once trapped, how did Sah manage to stay alive? He kept chanting the ‘Hare Krishna Mahamantra’, which gave him the strength to survive. “I kept chanting the Mahamantra throughout,” he told India Today.

Meanwhile, Maharjan had travelled to the project from the Kulekhani hydropower project for scheduled maintenance work. He was working as a mechanical supervisor under a hydropower automation project.

Now both of them are recuperating from the trauma.

How did their rescue from the tunnel unfold?

Sah and Maharjan’s rescue, as Arnold Dix, a tunnelling expert from Australia, notes is a “layer upon layer of layer of miracles”.

He explained that the first challenge the rescue officials encountered was locating the tunnel. That’s because the flash flood waters had drastically changed the landscape of the area. “I’ve never known a rescue operation where you had to look for an entrance of a tunnel that was previously up the hill, that was now underground. You can imagine the enormity of the avalanche; it completely buried the entrance,” said Dix, who is the president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, to the BBC.

Using engineering techniques, maps and satellite imagery, they were able to pinpoint the entrance of the tunnel. That’s where the next set of challenges appeared.

Days went into extracting the debris and mud that trapped the mouth of the tunnel. They also had to use explosives to blow up the rocks, which were the size of cars, an unprecedented move in tunnel rescues. He praised the Nepal Army for managing the explosions with precision and ensuring that it didn’t destabilise the tunnel.

Following this, the authorities found that the tunnel was full of water. Using excavators and pumping machines, the Nepalese rescuers dug a series of trenches from the tunnel all the way to the river outside, so they could drain the water.

Finally, they had to dig a passageway, “a tiny tunnel the size of a person”, through the debris at the top of the tunnel.

Finally, in the early hours of Friday, the rescuers heard what they thought could be voices. Shortly after that, the two survivors were located around 60 metres into the entrance of the tunnel and were successfully pulled out.

Hailing the rescue, Dix told ABC News, “This is extraordinary. For me, it means all those all-nighters that we’ve been doing to try and pull this off have been worth it.”

He added that this also gives hope that they would be able to rescue the many others who are trapped in the tunnels below Nepal. “If we’ve got live people there, we’re hopeful that we’re going to get some more good news,” he said.

What is Nepal’s death toll now?

While the rescue of the two workers is a reason to celebrate, Nepal is still grappling with a mounting death toll.

At least 1,287 people in Nepal have died so far, with the number of missing at 5,083. More than 800 foreigners remain unaccounted for, including trekkers in the Himalaya mountains and pilgrims who had come to visit Mount Kailash in Tibet, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.

Chief of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, Dharma Raj Upreti, also noted that property, housing and infrastructure worth at least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion) was lost in last week’s catastrophe.

The disaster could result in commercial insurance losses exceeding $132.3 million, with hydropower projects accounting for most claims, according to a top official at one of the country’s leading insurers.

With inputs from agencies