A delirious Kabir Maharjan drifted in and out of consciousness in a pool of muddy water in complete darkness, trapped for nine days in a tunnel beneath the wreckage of Nepal's worst flood disaster in decades. On September 4, 2026, Maharjan and his colleague, Sanjay Sah, were pulled alive from a depth of 170 meters inside the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station after a joint operation by the Nepal Army and Armed Police Force defied all odds to locate them.What Triggered the Underground Nightmare?The catastrophe began on August 26, 2026, when an ice-rock avalanche collapsed a melting glacier near the Nepal-Tibet border. The sudden breach unleashed a terrifying surge of mud, glacial debris, and raging water down the Trishuli River corridor. As water thundered into the Upper Trishuli 3A project, millions of tons of mud and boulders smashed into the facility, sealing off underground tunnels and trapping workers inside.Who Were the Men Who Survived?The survivors are Kabir Maharjan, a 45-year-old mechanical supervisor from Kathmandu, and Sanjay Sah, a 30-year-old foreman hailing from Saptari district. Sah recounted that he was working in the control room when the disaster struck. Prioritizing his duty to warn others, Sah sprinted through the installation urging his coworkers to run. By the time he ensured others had evacuated, torrents of water had sealed his escape path, forcing him to retreat deep into the tunnel with Maharjan.How Did They Manage to Survive Nine Days in Darkness?Inside the subterranean tomb, oxygen was thin, conditions were freezing, and total darkness prevailed. Maharjan suffered severe physical trauma, floating in cold water while fighting off organ failure and extreme jaundice. Meanwhile, Sah leaned on spiritual resilience, constantly chanting the "Hare Krishna" mantra to keep his mind grounded and avoid panic. The duo occasionally shouted into the void to maintain human contact, communicating with a few other voices echoing through distant parts of the 170-meter cavern.How Was the Impossible Rescue Executed?The rescue operation faced a hurdle rarely seen in disaster response: the flood had so drastically altered the terrain that the tunnel entrance was completely buried. Rescuers spent six days simply locating where the entrance used to be, utilizing satellite imagery, old topographic maps, and helicopter footage.Once located, heavy machinery, water pumps, and controlled explosive blasts were deployed by military personnel to clear car-sized boulders and heavy mud. Rescuers eventually crawled through a narrow, hand-dug passage near the ceiling of the main tunnel. Early on Friday morning, search teams called into the cavity and heard faint voices responding from within. Rescuers rushed inside, pulling Sah out over a shoulder and carrying a critically ill Maharjan on a stretcher before airlifting both directly to Kathmandu hospitals for emergency medical care.also read : Iran Values Civilisational Ties with India Ahead of BRICS
