Two workers rescued alive from Nepal hydropower tunnel nine days after landslide

Inside the rescue operation

Rescue efforts have focused on a service tunnel used to access the powerhouse and the water intake, where many of the trapped workers were believed to have been sheltering when the slide hit. Crews have worked in rotating shifts, pumping water from low sections and shoring up sections of the tunnel judged safe enough to enter. The two men found on Friday were located in a partially air-filled stretch of passage, rescuers said, which allowed the team to bring them out without further incident.

The plant sits along the Trishuli, a Himalayan river that has been heavily developed for hydropower as Nepal seeks to expand electricity exports. The facility is operated with Chinese technical and financial involvement, and its construction drew workers from several districts. Local officials have not yet released a full list of those still missing, but community leaders in Nuwakot said at least several dozen families had reported relatives unaccounted for since the day of the disaster.

Impact on the hydropower plant and local communities

Authorities have set up a coordination cell near the site to channel information to families and to receive tips from villagers who say they may have seen survivors downstream. A temporary medical post has been established to triage rescued workers, while the bodies of those recovered earlier in the week have been sent to the district hospital for identification. Officials have appealed to families to provide DNA samples and personal belongings to help with the formal identification process.

The Nepali government has announced an initial relief package for affected households, including immediate cash assistance and food rations, and has pledged a broader inquiry into how the disaster unfolded. Hydropower developers along the Trishuli have been asked to review early-warning systems and tunnel-safety protocols, given that the landslide followed days of unusually heavy rainfall across central Nepal. Scientists have noted that glacial lakes in the upper catchment have expanded in recent years, raising the prospect of more such events in the future.

International response and government inquiry

International support has begun to arrive. Search-and-rescue teams and engineering specialists from neighboring countries have offered technical assistance, and humanitarian agencies are providing shelter materials and clean water to displaced families in downstream settlements. The Nepali army is coordinating the overall response, with the army chief visiting the command post on Thursday to assess the operation and authorize additional equipment, including high-capacity pumps and tunnel-support materials.

The rescued men are being treated for dehydration, exposure and minor injuries, doctors at the field hospital said, adding that both were conscious and able to speak with relatives shortly after being pulled out. Their condition is being monitored, and they are expected to be moved to a larger hospital in the region once stabilized. The rescue has lifted morale among the search teams, who acknowledged that survival beyond the first 72 hours in a confined, wet and cold space is rare.

Hope and caution among waiting families

For the families still waiting, the news of two survivors has been both a relief and a renewed source of anguish. Several said they clung to small signs in recent days — the sound of tapping heard from inside the rock, faint shouts, the discovery of personal items — that suggested others might still be alive deeper inside the tunnel. Rescue managers have warned, however, that conditions deteriorate the further the teams move from the intake and that oxygen and safe access remain the operation's binding constraints.

Officials have said they will continue the search as long as there is credible information suggesting survivors may still be inside. International advisers, including a well-known tunnel rescue expert who has consulted on past incidents in the region, have joined the technical planning. The Nepali army, coordinating with district authorities, is preparing for a sustained operation that may extend through the coming week, even as hopes fade with each passing day.