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BY MARK WORGAN

Two men were rescued alive in Nepal on Friday (04Sep2026), nine days after the devastating flash floods that have killed more than 1,250 people and left thousands missing.

Workers from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal were left trapped after several projects were left buried in deep mud.

The men were brought out of the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel in one of the areas worst affected by last week's deadly floods.

According to Nepali Army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet, Sanjay Shah was the first person to be rescued and was taken to the Nepal Army barracks in Trishuli. A second man, identified as Kabir Maharjan, was later rescued from the tunnel.

The Nepali Army released images showing Mr Shah being pulled from the small, dark entrance to the tunnel. He was covered in mud but conscious, and was carried away from the site on a rescuer's shoulder.

In a statement, the Nepali Army said: “The joint search and rescue team of two people trapped inside the tunnel of hydroelectric project in Trishuli-3A due to devastating flooding in 10 Bhadra in Rasuwa, Bhotekoshi, Rasuwa has rescued two people alive and further search and rescue work is underway.”

Officials said the two men were in stable condition and flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.
Nepal's Communications Minister, Bikram Timilsina, said officials remained hopeful that more workers would be rescued.

“We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” he wrote on social media.
Most of the hydropower projects along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli rivers were destroyed when a surge of water, debris and mud swept down the valleys last week following the collapse of a melting glacier on the border between Nepal and China-controlled Tibet.

At least 1,287 people have been killed in the floods, while more than 5,000 remain missing, according to figures from Nepal's disaster management agency.

Rescue efforts have increasingly focused on similar hydropower tunnels, where authorities believe some workers may have survived for more than a week because of air pockets.
Large boulders and floodwater inundated the hydropower tunnels, blocking entrances and leaving some buried deep in mud.

At the Upper Trishuli 3A facility, it took rescue workers almost six days to locate the tunnels. Rescuers made a breakthrough early on Friday - and heard the voices of the two men.
At least 557 workers are missing from hydropower projects along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.

Rescue efforts have also focused on the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant, where Nepalese authorities say they are confident that 46 workers trapped in an underground chamber are still alive.