Kathmandu (Nepal) (AFP) – Two hydropower workers were pulled alive on Friday from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal, a rare ray of hope on the tenth day of rescue efforts after catastrophic Himalayan flooding.
Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled through a muddy opening, a video released by the energy ministry showed.
He was helped to his feet by rescuers, and later carried on the backs of the emergency workers, raising his hand as they rushed him towards a helicopter.
A photograph showed the second man caked in mud, his hands pressed together in prayer, as rescuers carried him on a stretcher.
"As long as there is breath, there is hope!" Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said in a statement.
"Rescue operations are continuing in all the affected tunnels. Let everyone's efforts and prayers continue. We have not lost hope."
Rescuers called it a "miracle" after the August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,325 people and left more than 5,500 missing.
"I am so happy, my heart is lighter," Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker, 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan, told AFP.
Rescued worker Sanjay Sah, 30, speaking on a video broadcast on Nepali media shortly after his rescue, said he had survived by praying during the days in the dark.
"What day is today? I was chanting maha mantra (Hindu prayers) inside," Sah said, adding that he believed more workers may be in the tunnel.
"There were as many as 40 or 45 people... I told them and everyone to run out," he said of the moment the disaster struck.
Both men were reported to be in stable condition in a Kathmandu hospital.
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