Nine days after disaster, two pulled alive from Nepal hydropower tunnel

By Gopal Sharma and Saurabh Sharma

KATHMANDU, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled two ‌survivors from a tunnel linked ​to a hydropower ​station on Nepal's Trishuli River on Friday, nine days after a wall of ice, rock and mud tore through its valley, killing more than 1,300 people and leaving over 5,600 missing.

Officials and rescue workers say they 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. The army said they had ‌also recovered a body from the site.

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.

Nepal's army said it recovered two bodies from a tunnel at Langtang Hydropower Station, and continued searching.

At least 1,287 people have been killed in Nepal in the floods that swept away houses, streets and schools ​in towns and villages near the border with China's Tibet, the disaster management authority said on Friday. More ‌than 5,080 are still missing.

China has put the death toll in Tibet at 21, with 541 others listed as missing.

RESCUE WAS A MIRACLE

The two rescued 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.

Amir Maharjan, Kabir's brother, said he has not received any news officially but has been told to go to the hospital.

"I have been hearing from the news that my brother has been found. The entire family is very happy," Amir said.

A small group of people ⁠had managed to escape from another tunnel hours after the disaster struck.

A team of experts in a WhatsApp group was guiding rescue workers in the search at the hydropower projects in what has become a valuable ​tool alongside helicopters and heavy machinery in the race to find survivors.

More search and rescue operations were underway around the Upper Trishuli 3A project, the Nepali army said. Rescue efforts were being led by the army and police, with assistance from experts from India, South Korea and China.

FLOOD LOSSES ESTIMATED AT $2.56 BILLION

Property, housing and infrastructure worth at least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion) were lost in last ‌week's catastrophe, Dharma Raj Upreti, chief of Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said on Friday.

Nepal will need to rebuild around 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, Upreti has said, with at least 7,500 of those homes destroyed.

The disaster could result in commercial insurance ‌losses exceeding $132.3 million, with hydropower projects accounting for most claims, according to a top official at one of the country's leading insurers. Eleven Nepali hydropower projects lie in the affected region and in many cases, ⁠access roads and above-ground infrastructure have been washed away.

At least 583 foreign ‌nationals were missing in the floods, Nepal said on ​Thursday, many of them pilgrims and trekkers.

Australian disaster response specialists left for Nepal on Friday to join the search for survivors, as the Australian government expressed "serious concerns" for the welfare of its 36 missing citizens.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma and Saurabh Sharma; Writing by Tom Hogue and Saad Sayeed; Editing ‌by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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