If you’re just joining us, there is a sense of renewed hope in Nepal today after two workers were pulled from below a stricken hydropower plant. Dozens of rescuers have been digging outside the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant for several days, in a bid to find 42 workers there who are unaccounted for.
Following the disaster over a week ago, which dramatically changed the landscape, emergency response personnel resorted to using satellite data to narrow down possible locations of where tunnels of trapped workers might be amid treacherous conditions, said Arnold Dix, a geologist advising Nepali rescuers on the ground.
Heavy machinery was then used to haul away mud and sludge, with fire excavators, compressors and breakers helping rescuers reach any possible survivor zone, according to Lt. Col. Ganga Baral, of the Nepali Army.
Explosives were carefully used to clear a path before army rescuers continued to meticulously dig by hand to reach any survivors inside.
Cheers erupted as video on Friday showed the first man – 30-year-old mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah – being pulled from the tunnel. Amid the elation, local officials told CNN more voices had been heard.
Shortly after, Kabir Maharjan, a 45-year-old mechanical supervisor, was rescued from inside the tunnel. The men were airlifted away for emergency medical attention, with both being treated at a military hospital in Kathmandu, according to the Nepali Prime Minister’s Office. Sah is in stable condition, while Maharjan is in critical condition and under intensive care.
Read more on the dramatic rescue here.
CNN’s Bhadra Sharma, Lex Harvey, Hanako Montgomery, Daniel Campisi, Hilary Whiteman, Kathleen Magramo, Kosh Koirala and Satish Cheney contributed reporting.