Nine days in pitch-black darkness, surrounded by tons of shifting debris, is a scenario most people don't survive. Yet, against every statistical odd, two workers were pulled alive from a buried hydropower tunnel in Nepal after catastrophic flash floods reshaped an entire valley. If you've been following the aftermath of the late August disaster triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the border, you already know the grim scale of the tragedy. Thousands remain missing, and twelve hydropower projects suffered severe damage. But the extraction of Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan from the Trishuli 3A project offers an intense look at survival psychology, engineering improvisation, and sheer human endurance.
You might wonder how anyone manages to stay alive for over 200 hours buried 170 meters underground with zero natural light. For Sah, a 30-year-old mechanical foreman, survival came down to a mix of duty and deep personal ritual. When the walls of water and rock tore through the facility on August 26, Sah stayed back in the control room to warn his colleagues instead of running immediately. That selfless delay cost him his clean exit. Trapped as mud sealed the structural network, he spent over a week reciting the Hare Krishna mantra in total darkness, rationing his energy, and communicating faintly with a small group of nearby survivors.
Finding them wasn't just a matter of digging with heavy excavators. The disaster was so violent that it literally erased the landscape, burying tunnel entrances under massive landslides and car-sized boulders. Rescuers faced an unprecedented hurdle: they didn't even know where the tunnel mouths were anymore.
The Logistics of an Underground Rescue
When standard blueprints become useless because a flash flood alters the geography of a mountain, you have to adapt fast. Rescuers used helicopter footage, old topographic maps, and surface landmarks like tilted power poles to triangulate the hidden entrances.
Even after locating the site, clearing the way required extreme caution. Heavy machinery moved the surface debris, but engineers had to manage controlled explosions to break through stubborn blockages without causing a secondary collapse that would crush anyone trapped inside. Technical knowledge became just as critical as raw iron. An ad-hoc WhatsApp group of engineers expanded to over 500 members, serving as a live digital war room where experts shared layout drawings of powerhouses and access shafts to guide the digging teams.
What the Rescue Means for Remaining Operations
Hearing human voices echoing from deep within a blocked shaft changes the mood of a rescue operation overnight. When emergency crews heard faint responses after boring a narrow, person-sized passage, the mission shifted from body recovery to active extraction. Maharjan was airlifted to Kathmandu for intensive medical care due to physical complications, while Sah was stabilized locally.
Authorities believe hundreds of workers remain unaccounted for across several project sites along the river valleys, with many potentially trapped in air pockets or chambers. The physical toll on the human body after more than a week without proper food, hydration, and sunlight is severe, marked by disorientation and hallucinations. Yet, this operation proves that early shelter strategies and air pockets can buy crucial time against the elements.
The focus now remains on stabilizing the remaining structural tunnels and clearing mud from other high-risk zones before weather conditions deteriorate further.
Nepal: Two more people rescued alive
This video provides an on-the-ground report regarding the ongoing search and rescue efforts following the devastating flash floods in Nepal.
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