'A miracle after 9 days': Nepal flood survivor says he was trapped helping others escape

Two Nepali workers were dramatically rescued from a hydropower plant tunnel on Friday (local time) — nine days after devastating floods struck Nepal — with one survivor saying he became trapped while helping others evacuate. The wife of another rescued worker said her husband had been given a second life and expressed gratitude to the rescue teams.

According to local media including the Kathmandu Post, Sanjay Sas, a mechanical foreman at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant in Bagmati Province in north-central Nepal, was the first to be pulled from the tunnel that morning. After his rescue, he told Nepali army medical personnel that he had been unable to get out because he was trying to help others evacuate.

"I was working in the control room and my responsibility was to save everyone's lives," he said. "When the floods hit the plant, I shouted at everyone to run. While doing that, I wasted time and ultimately could not get out myself," he added.

He said he endured the ordeal inside the tunnel by reciting Hindu mantras until he was rescued. "There were only three or four people nearby I could communicate with by talking or making sounds," he added.

However, he cautioned that not everyone may have made it out. "The tunnel is very long," he said. "There is a possibility that more people are trapped deeper inside the tunnel and around the plant."

Meanwhile, Hira Shova, the wife of Kabir Maharjan — a mechanical supervisor at the plant who was rescued after Sas — said her husband had been given a second life and thanked the rescue workers who found him.

In a local television interview, Shova said the last time she had spoken with her husband was on the morning of Aug. 26, just before the floods struck, and that she had received no word of his whereabouts for nine days after that. "Those days were so hard to endure. We could barely eat or sleep," she said, describing the anguish she and her family went through after his disappearance.

"They risked their lives to save him. I sincerely thank the entire rescue team," she added.

According to the Nepali prime minister's office, Sas was in stable condition, while Maharjan, who was unable to move his hands and feet, was transferred to an intensive care unit.

The Trishuli 3A plant where the two were rescued sits downstream on the Trishuli River from the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, where nine South Korean employees remain missing. The two facilities are approximately 6 kilometers apart.