Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane posted about the second rescue on his Facebook page shortly after army spokesperson Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet confirmed the first trapped worker\u2019s rescue. Officials identified the two men as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor.<\/p>\n
Local television news channels showed images of the first rescued worker covered in mud and being carried from the site on a rescuer\u2019s shoulder. Officials said both men were in stable condition and were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.<\/p>\n
At least 557 workers are missing from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River, with about 115 believed to be trapped in the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.<\/p>\n
Officials present at the rescue site said rescuers believe some people may still be alive inside the tunnel.<\/p>\n
![\"Nepal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/nepal-hydropower-worker-rescued-JJAIMT23EJFOVM3QZUTFT7SGBU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Nepal hydropower worker rescued. (Source: Nepalese Army via X)<\/p>\n
Nepal\u2019s Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina said officials remain hopeful that more workers will be rescued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,\u201d Timilsina wrote on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n
At least 1259 people were killed<\/a> in the floods and more than 5000 remain missing<\/a>, according to the country\u2019s disaster management agency. China, as of late Wednesday, said 21 people were killed and 541 were missing on the Tibet side of the border.<\/p>\n About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in tunnels, according to local authorities.<\/p>\n Why finding missing workers was so difficult<\/p>\n Access to the tunnels has been hampered by flooding, debris and damaged infrastructure, making it difficult for rescue teams to reach workers.<\/p>\n Basnet said teams assisted by foreign experts were working at several hydropower projects. Army footage showed rescuers entering dark, debris-filled tunnels, wading through mud and climbing over rocks as they searched for the missing.<\/p>\n Nepal army soldiers undertake rescue operation at the site of a hydropower project in Upper Trishuli, Nepal, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026 (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n Mohan Kumar Dangi, president of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal, said floods damaged at least 12 hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, with a combined capacity of 670 MW. Four were under construction, seven operational and one in testing phase, he said.<\/p>\n Hydropower projects undergo risk assessments and other studies before construction, but called the August 26 flooding \u201csomething unimaginable”, Dangi said.<\/p>\n Flood damage hampers access to tunnels<\/p>\n The biggest challenge for rescuers is reaching them.<\/p>\n Many of Nepal\u2019s hydropower projects are in remote, mountainous areas where steep terrain and narrow roads can make access difficult. Flooding has worsened conditions, damaging roads and limiting routes to some sites.<\/p>\n Rescuers also are facing tunnels that are blocked or damaged.<\/p>\n The floods swept mud, huge rocks and debris into underground passages, collapsing sections and trapping workers. Even where tunnel entrances are accessible, crews must clear large amounts of debris before reaching deeper sections.<\/p>\n Thousands of troops are searching for survivors after devastating floods killed nearly 800 people, with five New Zealanders among those still missing. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Debris obscuring the locations of workers<\/p>\n Finding the missing workers also has proved difficult.<\/p>\n Filmmaker and drone pilot Manish Maharjan, who has been volunteering with the Nepalese army, said some tunnels were \u201cfilled with mud like toothpaste in a tube”. At one hydropower project, he used a drone to search to the end of a tunnel but found no sign of life.<\/p>\n Some workers called for help during early hours after floods, while others who escaped said colleagues remained underground. It was not clear whether rescuers had since made contact with those workers or whether they were still alive.<\/p>\n Experts say the first 72 hours after a disaster can be critical. People trapped underground may survive without food for some time, but limited drinking water and breathable air can quickly become life-threatening.<\/p>\n Nepal\u2019s rescue capacity being tested<\/p>\n Anil Pokhrel, a disaster risk reduction expert and former head of Nepal\u2019s disaster authority, said the flooding exposed weaknesses in Nepal\u2019s rescue capacity. He said rescuers lost valuable time locating the tunnel\u2019s exact entry point and coordinates and lacked heavy equipment and adequately trained personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cHarsh and remote locations with inclement weather worsened the situation. Also, we didn\u2019t have adequately trained human resources to undertake such operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nepal has more than a century of experience building tunnels but remains poorly prepared for complex tunnel rescues, Pokhrel said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are focused on tunnel design and construction but are not adequately prepared for rescue operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rescuers in Nepal have pulled two workers alive from a hydropower tunnel on Friday as emergency teams continued…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2300,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-589937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-asia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/nepal-army-soldiers-undertake-rescue-operation-at-the-site-o-SEFQLVGE2NEX3O7H2X6HMV272Q.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/nepal-flood-rescue-enters-sixth-day-as-hundreds-feared-trapp-UGZFUVTQ3FEWZJEW46XVHTMGQA.png\")
<\/p>\n