Two workers emerge alive from a Nepal tunnel, nine days after disaster

September 4, 2026 news recap. Hero image: AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of the rescue.

Two men came out alive. After days of digging through a disaster-hit hydropower site in Nepal, that was the news families had been waiting to hear.

Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan were rescued from the Upper Trishuli 3A project on Friday, September 4, nine days after the August 26 disaster. Reuters identified Sah as a mechanical foreman and Maharjan as a mechanical supervisor, citing the energy minister's office. Both were being taken for hospital care. Reuters reported the rescue and the workers' identities.

A breakthrough after days of work

The scenes described in Friday's reporting were extraordinary: emergency workers helping men out of mud-covered surroundings, carrying them towards medical help, and people cheering nearby. These were living workers being brought back to their families, after a long period without certainty.

AFP's report, carried by CNA, said Nepal Army statements confirmed that the men were receiving treatment. It also described experts from India, China and South Korea supporting the wider search effort. Crews had faced tightly packed debris that made reaching the missing workers painfully difficult. Read AFP's account on CNA.

It is easy to focus on the few seconds when a survivor appears. The work before that moment matters just as much: finding a route, removing material and keeping people coordinated in a damaged underground space.

Who was doing the searching?

In an interview with OnlineKhabar, Lieutenant Colonel Ganga Baral described a sustained effort involving the Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police and technical employees from the Nepal Electricity Authority. He credited cooperation and engineering guidance for the breakthrough. The outlet reported that both survivors were under medical care or observation. OnlineKhabar spoke to the officer leading the operation.

Public broadcaster Radio Nepal also reported the two rescues. Its September 4 update described continuing work at several hydropower locations, including pumping water and using equipment to search through sludge. That wider picture matters: the rescue at one project did not settle the fate of people missing at other sites. Radio Nepal's rescue update.

Hope does not mean every question is answered

Reports about the remaining search inside Upper Trishuli 3A were not fully aligned. Early accounts described ongoing efforts and hope of finding others. A later Kathmandu Post report said a team that searched the tunnel found the two survivors and one body, but no additional people in the sections it reached.

The Post quoted Armed Police Force personnel describing mud, rocks and damaged sections. It also reported that the station chief wanted possible locations inspected with project staff before a final decision about the search. Those statements should not be turned into a claim that every missing person had been accounted for. The Kathmandu Post's later September 4 report.

For readers following clips online, the distinction is important. A confirmed rescue is a fact. A possible survivor, an estimate of missing workers and a completed search are different kinds of information. They should not be mixed into one dramatic number.

The timing also explains the different descriptions of the wait. August 26 to September 4 is nine elapsed days; counting the disaster date itself makes Friday the tenth calendar day of the operation.

The human story behind the update

Friday's breakthrough deserves attention without exaggeration. Two workers survived long enough for rescuers to reach them. Teams kept working through difficult conditions. Families received news that had seemed increasingly hard to imagine.

For everyone still waiting, the next useful updates are specific ones: verified identities, hospital information released appropriately, and clear reports on which places have actually been searched. The rescue brought relief. It did not bring the whole disaster to an end.