Nepal search teams rescue two workers from hydropower tunnel

Search teams have rescued two men from a hydropower tunnel buried by debris during the flash flood that devastated Nepal nine days ago.

The two workers were pulled alive from the main tunnel at the construction site of the Trishuli 3A plant early on Friday. The rescue raises hope of recovering more of the hundreds of people believed to remain trapped in hydropower tunnels .

The cascade, believed to have been triggered by the partial collapse of a glacier , killed more than 1,200 people and devastated entire communities, as water, rock and mud raced down Himalayan valleys.

A video released by Nepal’s Ministry of Energy showed cheering as a man emerged through a small muddy opening. He was helped to his feet by rescuers and carried on the backs of emergency workers, raising his hand as they took him towards a helicopter.

A second man covered in mud pressed his hands together in prayer as he was carried away on a stretcher.

The rescued men were identified as Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor, by the minister of home affairs of Nepal, Sudan Gurung.

“I am so happy, my heart is lighter,” Maharjan’s brother Amir told the AFP news agency.

The Nepali Army said the two men were receiving medical treatment and would be taken to a hospital in Kathmandu, while “search and rescue operations are ongoing .”