Two Nepal Hydropower Workers Rescued Alive After 9 Days Trapped Underground

A remarkable rescue operation in Nepal has brought a rare moment of hope after devastating floods and landslides swept through the Trishuli River valley.

Two hydropower workers were pulled alive from a mud-filled tunnel on September 4, nine days after the disaster, after rescuers finally reached them deep inside the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station.

The image circulating online accurately captures the central event: two workers were rescued alive after spending nine days trapped underground following the floods.

Who Were the Two Survivors?

The workers were identified as Sanjay Sah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor. Both were employees associated with Nepal's electricity authority.

Rescuers found the men roughly 170 meters underground, after days of digging through thick mud, debris and rocks blocking access to the tunnel.

Images released by Nepalese authorities showed the extraordinary moment: one survivor was covered in mud as rescuers carried him toward safety, while the other was pulled from the tunnel and placed on a stretcher.

Both men were transported to Kathmandu for medical treatment. Reports said Sah's injuries were not considered critical, while Maharjan initially had difficulty moving his limbs.

Nine Days in Darkness

The workers became trapped after a catastrophic event on August 26, when a glacier collapse in the upper Trishuli River region triggered a massive surge of water, ice, rock and mud.

The disaster devastated communities near the Nepal-Tibet border and severely damaged hydropower infrastructure. Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs said the flooding caused extensive loss of life and property across Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Gorkha districts and immediately triggered national search-and-rescue operations.

At the Trishuli 3A facility, rescue crews spent days simply trying to locate and access the buried tunnels.

Then came the breakthrough: rescuers heard voices underground.

Teams crawled through the sludge-filled tunnel and eventually reached the two men.

One Survivor Said He Prayed

After being rescued, Sah described being inside the tunnel when the disaster struck.

He told army officials that he had been in a control room where normally four to six people worked, but that there could have been 40 to 45 people in the area that day. He also reportedly stayed behind to help others rather than immediately flee.

Another report described Maharjan emerging from the tunnel with his hands pressed together in prayer, an image that quickly became one of the defining moments of the rescue.

Hundreds of Hydropower Workers Are Still Missing

The rescue is extraordinary partly because the wider disaster remains enormous.

Local authorities estimate that approximately 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped inside tunnels.

That means the rescue of Sah and Maharjan is not the end of the operation. It is a sign that survivors may still be found in places rescuers have not yet reached.

At Upper Trishuli 3A, a search team later reported finding the bodies of additional victims but no other survivors in the sections it inspected.

Another Survivor Was Found the Next Day

And the story became even more remarkable on September 5.

Rescuers pulled Chinese national Lu Haitao alive from a roughly 225-meter tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, about 10 days after the disaster. He was reportedly in stable condition and was taken to an army hospital.

That means the original graphic's statement that two workers were rescued alive was accurate for September 4, but subsequent events have produced another extraordinary survival story.

What the Graphic Gets Right — and What It Leaves Out

The graphic gets right:

• Two workers were rescued alive.
• They had been trapped for about nine days.
• They were hydropower workers in Nepal.
• They were rescued from the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel after the August 26 disaster.

What it leaves out:

• The men were rescued from about 170 meters underground.
• Around 900 hydropower workers were reportedly missing across multiple projects.
• Roughly 500 were believed to be trapped in tunnels.
• A third tunnel survivor, Lu Haitao, was rescued the following day.
• Nepal's broader disaster has killed more than 1,200 people and left thousands missing, according to reports as rescue operations continue.

The photographs in the post are consistent with the documented rescue, but the social-media graphic itself is not the evidence for the event. The rescue has been independently confirmed by Nepalese officials and multiple international news organizations.

A Rare Moment of Hope

After nine days beneath tons of mud and debris, Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan came back into daylight alive.

Their rescue has offered families waiting for news of missing relatives something desperately needed after one of Nepal's worst recent disasters: proof that survival underground is possible, even days after the initial catastrophe.