Rescuers pulled two survivors from a tunnel linked to a hydropower station on Nepal’s Trishuli River yesterday, nine days after a wall of ice, rock and mud tore through its valley, killing at least 1,325 people and leaving over 5,500 missing.
Officials and rescue workers believe the August 26 collapse of a glacier on the upper reaches of the river trapped at least 900 people in tunnels related to six hydropower projects along the waters.
The two workers pulled from the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station are the first to be rescued from the hydropower projects and have been taken to an army hospital in the capital Kathmandu, giving search teams a flicker of hope as the possibility of finding other survivors fades. Rescuers called it a “miracle”.
Videos released by Nepali authorities showed Kabir Maharjan being hoisted from a hole in the ground as bystanders cheered, then lowered onto a stretcher. His colleague Sanjay Sah was brought out on a worker’s back, his face still caked in mud, before army doctors fitted an oxygen mask and checked his vitals inside a rescue tent.
Sah, a mechanical foreman, later described staying behind in a control room to help others escape after he urged colleagues to flee upon hearing news of the disaster.
“I was in the control room, so my responsibility was to save everyone’s lives. When there was such a big accident, it was not right for me to run away,” he said in a video recording shared by Nepali authorities.
Sah told rescuers he spent time reciting mantras (verses from a prayer) while he was trapped. He said he had been in contact with three or four more people in the tunnel, while others could still be alive deeper in its reaches.
Both men are now in intensive care at an army hospital and their vital signs are stable, a source from the facility told Reuters. Mechanical supervisor Maharjan cannot move his hands or legs, but Sah’s injuries are not considered critical, according to an aide to the energy minister.
The United Nations yesterday appealed for $50 million to help more than 84,000 people in Nepal affected by catastrophic flooding, warning that winter was fast approaching.
Property, housing and infrastructure worth at least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion) was lost in last week’s catastrophe, Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said.
Meanwhile, Australian disaster response specialists yesterday left for Nepal to join the search for survivors, as the government expressed “serious concerns” for the welfare of its 36 missing citizens.
A notice of the Chinese government showed that Beijing will shift its Zhangmu customs inspection site that links the Tibet region to Nepal from this morning, enforcing restrictions on the road leading to the new site.
The site’s modified layout is to optimise customs operations, showed the notice published by Tibet Daily. It will then extend to the road connecting to a new border crossing point in Nyalam county from 10:00 am today.
