Two saved nine days after Nepal mudslide buried work tunnel

Rescuers on Friday pulled two men alive from a work tunnel buried in mud during the catastrophic Aug. 26 floods in northern Nepal. One, Sanjay Shah, was in stable condition, according to the office of Nepal’s prime minister. The other man, Kabir Maharjan, was in critical condition and was rushed to intensive care at a hospital, the office said. The men had been buried for nine days.

A hundred workers were still thought to be trapped in the same tunnel at the Trishuli 3A construction site, a hydroelectric power project official said, according to the Associated Press. The site is difficult to reach, mainly accessible by helicopter. Rescue teams from Nepal and other neighboring countries were using five excavators and working to reach further into the tunnel through swampy mud over 10 feet deep, according to the Nepali government. Rescue efforts were continuing at Trishuli 3A and at other similar work tunnels, according to the Nepali government. A total of over 900 workers are missing around the country, where several power projects were being built.

The news came as the government updated its death toll. At least 1,287 people died in the floods, and more than 5,000 were still missing, the Associated Press reported, citing the Nepali disaster management agency. The Nepali army on Thursday said it recovered an unspecified number of bodies from another work tunnel.

Dig deeper: Read my report on a Christian aid group’s assessment of needs in Nepal after the disaster.