Here's the latest
• Workers rescued: Two people have been pulled alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, more than a week after catastrophic floods at its border with China. The plant was unrecognizable from the disaster, and rescuers had to use satellite pictures to find it below the mud.
• Survivor’s account: Sanjay Sah, 30, who is in a stable condition, had to ask rescuers what date it was. He said he was trapped after helping others escape and kept his spirits up chanting Hindu mantras. Kabir Maharjan, 45 is critically ill. Both are being treated in a hospital.
• Efforts continue: The discovery of the two has given rescuers renewed hope more can be saved. Hundreds of hydropower workers are missing from the disaster.
• Death toll: The number of people killed in Nepal has exceeded 1,290. The death toll in China was 21, according to its latest update on Wednesday. About 5,500 across both countries remain missing.
Pilgrims, businesspeople and visitors: Dozens of stranded Nepali survivors return home
The catastrophic flash floods that pelted Nepal and Tibet last Wednesday have left a trail of destruction, displaced families and buried homes in their wake.
Across the Himalayan region, emergency workers are racing to unearth survivors. As part of those efforts, 269 Nepali nationals stranded on the Chinese side of the border have been rescued and returned home in the past two days, a senior regional official told CNN on Friday.
On Thursday, 114 Nepali citizens crossed the border, followed by another 155 people today, according to Krishna Prasad Sharma, the Assistant Chief District Officer for Sindhupalchowk district, northeastern Nepal.
Many of those rescued included pilgrims, businesspeople and others who had traveled to China, Sharma added.
Flood-stricken villagers line up for days to return home via makeshift zip line
Dozens of Nepali villagers who were stranded by the deadly floods lined up for days to return home via a makeshift zip line on Friday.
Images by Reuters news agency shows villagers waiting their turn as the zip line carriage moves across the Trishuli River, more than a week after flash floods devastated the area and swept away bridges.
One villager, Sujana Sunar, said she had stood on line Thursday but failed to get a spot on the zip line.
“Today I came very early, at 5 a.m. (7:15 p.m. ET Thursday); by that time, 30 (people) were already gathered waiting here,” the 40-year-old flood survivor said.
Sunar said that after crossing the river, it would take her at least another five hours to reach her village, as the major roads had been swept away by the floods.
“I don’t have my own transportation, and even with a vehicle I won’t be able to reach it. I’ll have to go through thick jungle on a motorbike,” she said.
In Devighat, in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, another zip line platform was being constructed at the residence of Arjun Lal Shrestha, who donated his damaged home to the project.
“People from there can’t come here, people from here can’t go there, so that’s why I’m making this small contribution to provide a small amount of relief for society,” he told Reuters.
Death toll from Tibet floods rises to 31, Chinese state media says
As specialized emergency crews dig for flood survivors in Nepal, authorities in Tibet are also tracking rescue efforts.
As of 6 p.m. local time on Friday (6 a.m. ET), Chinese media reported that at least 31 people have been killed in the autonomous Tibet region. Another 531 individuals are unaccounted for, according to China’s state outlet, Xinhua.
Earlier on Friday, police in Nepal stated that at least 1,295 people had been killed there.
Both updates bring the total death toll from those killed along the Nepal-China border to 1,326 people, according to a CNN tally of figures published by Nepali and Chinese officials.
CNN’s Bhadra Sharma contributed reporting.
How rescuers found the two survivors
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.
Geologist advising Nepali rescue teams sets out next steps
Let’s take a step back to assess ongoing emergency efforts in northern Nepal, where a team found two survivors from deluged underground tunnels following last week’s lethal floods.
The technical feat of the operation cannot be underestimated, according to Arnold Dix, a geologist in touch with crews on the ground.
“We’ve proven a concept for the first time ever in the history of these sorts of rescues in the world… a way to get people out alive,” Dix told CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz on CNN Newsroom Friday.
As teams make their way through the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station, Dix laid out a three-point action plan:
- Finding evidence of the power station: The floods on August 26 “totally destroyed” the station, according to Dix, leaving “virtually no evidence” on the surface.
- Goldilocks zones: Instead, researchers were tasked with analyzing engineering drawings of the station to try and identify areas where people might have survived, which Dix terms “Goldilocks zones.”
- Locating survivors: An “earthwork operation” followed, Dix said, describing a process of draining water and rock from the tunnels, blowing a hole into the roof and eventually getting rescue staffers to dig inside the network “with their fingers” while crawling “on their bellies.”
What next? The two survivors – Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan – were found inside a cable tunnel, added Dix. Crews are now heading towards the power station itself, the geologist said, adding that they’re about 150 meters (492 feet) away. “That’s where we are hoping to find more people.”
UN food program says 43,000 people in Nepal need urgent humanitarian relief
While the rescue of two men in Nepal brought some rare good news on Friday, the broader situation in the country remains challenging, with thousands of people displaced and thousands of homes destroyed.
About 43,000 people in Nepal – roughly 10,000 families – are in need of immediate humanitarian relief, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), citing Nepali disaster management authorities.
Government estimates indicate that more than 84,000 people in Nepal have been affected by the flooding and landslides, according to the update.
Many of those affected are in hard-to-reach areas, and the UN food program said it has dispatched specialist logistics teams to help its humanitarian partners reach the most isolated locations.
“The disaster risks worsening existing nutrition challenges. Even before the floods, malnutrition, child wasting and anaemia rates were high in Nepal, with one in four children nationwide affected by stunting. Disrupted markets, lost livelihoods and reduced access to diverse and nutritious food could further increase nutrition risks,” WFP said.
Chopper evacuates pregnant woman from rescue barracks in Nepal
Also taking off from the Nepal Army barracks at the Trishuli base this morning – a chopper airlifting a pregnant woman and her family to hospital.
The woman was brought into the barracks on a small vehicle and stretchered to an army tent. Around ten minutes later, she was flown out by chopper.
She had been unable to reach a local hospital following the flood, a military official told CNN, and she was facing complications.
For context: Thousands of people have been displaced in Nepal in the wake of the glacier collapse and catastrophic flooding. The Trishuli barracks has been operating as a staging area for civilians evacuated from the flood zones, until they can move on to temporary housing.
Nepali authorities estimate that the country will need to rebuild about 20,000 houses in flood-ravaged areas, with more than 7,500 homes destroyed.
Body of third hydropower worker found in tunnel after two found alive
The body of a third person has been recovered from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project just hours after two workers were found alive, the Nepal Electricity Authority says.
The deceased has been identified as Binod Pandey.
Suresh Raut, deputy manager at the Nepal Electricity Authority, who was at the rescue site when the body was discovered, said an 11-man team, including relatives of the missing, has been dispatched to search the surrounding area.
“Then, search and rescue in Trishuli 3A will be concluded,” Raut explained, adding: “We see less possibility of finding other missing people at this tunnel.”
Rescue success brings hope, but reaching others trapped remains tough
The pulling of two men alive from a hydropower tunnel deep inside the Nepal Himalaya nine days after the disaster has sparked hope in Nepal.
The mood among rescuers is high. But reaching others still trapped in the tunnel — and whose condition is unknown — will be challenging.
The Nepal Army believes another 40 people are still inside the tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project. Their condition is not known.
Rescuers are using “various types of detectors, thermal detectors… elongated cameras, remotely piloted vehicles, drones of sorts,” Maj. Gen. Anup Jung Thapa, head of military operations, told CNN in an interview on Thursday.
In one of the tunnels there is a conduit for drainage of water, where the water is about 26 meters (85 feet) deep, he said.
Last week, CNN spoke to hydro workers from a nearby tunnel who spoke of water, cement and debris rushing through the darkness as the flood hit. They spoke of seeing the bodies of their colleagues wash past them as they struggled desperately to escape to the surface, more than 200 meters (656 feet) away. That escape took them six hours.
The area is incredibly remote and connectivity is limited, underscoring just how tough this rescue effort remains for those working day and night to save their friends and colleagues.
Throughout Friday, choppers took off and landing constantly from the Trishuli barracks.
On the walls outside the barracks are dozens of missing persons photos, illustrating the number of those still missing.
Two men were just rescued alive in Nepal after nine days. Catch up here
Two Nepali men were rescued alive after nine days trapped in a hydropower plant tunnel following the catastrophic flash flooding that hit on August 26. Rescuers have been working for more than a week at the site of the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant in the hopes of finding people alive.
Catch up on the latest developments:
- Sanjay Sah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, were hauled out of the mud-filled tunnel on Friday morning. Both have been transferred to Birendra Army Hospital in Kathmandu.
- Sah, a mechanical foreman, said in a video recorded from his hospital bed that on the day of the disaster, it took time for him to get others workers evacuated and that he didn’t have enough time to escape himself. “I don’t think everyone was able to escape. The tunnel is very long,” he added.
- Sah, who is from Saptari district in eastern Nepal, is in stable condition. Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor from Kathmandu, is in critical condition and remains in intensive care, according to the Nepali Prime Minister’s Office.
- Emergency workers told CNN at the site that they remain hopeful of finding more people alive. But the situation remains murky and operations are cumbersome, with rescuers digging by hand.
- CNN has spoken to the father of 30-year-old survivor Sanjay Sah. His dad, Ramphal, said he initially “didn’t believe it.” “When I saw his photo, there was no limit to my happiness,” Ramphal said in an interview.
- Nepali authorities have previously said there are more than 900 workers missing at multiple energy projects in the Himalayas, including many foreign national workers.
- In total, more than 5,000 people are missing in Nepal following last week’s catastrophic floods, which were triggered by a glacier collapse.
- The death toll has risen to nearly 1,300 people in Nepal and 21 in China, according to authorities in each country.
CNN’s Hanako Montgomery, Ross Adkin, Bhadra Sharma, Hilary Whiteman, Kosh Koirala and Satish Cheney contributed to this post.
"No limit to my happiness," says father of worker rescued in Nepal
CNN has spoken to two relatives of a hydropower plant worker found by crews in northern Nepal on Friday – both of whom first caught wind of the rescue after seeing the man’s photo circulating online.
Sanjay Sah, a 30-year-old mechanical foreman from the eastern Saptari district, emerged from the cavernous, muddy tunnel in Rasuwa during a mammoth emergency operation along Nepal’s Trishuli River.
His father, Ramphal, said he initially “didn’t believe it.” “When I saw his photo, there was no limit to my happiness,” Ramphal told CNN. “Locals, relatives and well-wishers came to my home to express happiness.”
Ramphal is now waiting at Biratnagar Airport, southeastern Nepal, to travel to Kathmandu and reunite with his son, who he is receiving medical treatment alongside the other survivor, Kabir Maharjan, 45, at a military hospital in the capital.
Signs of life from the labyrinthine tunnel network were thought to be rare after catastrophic floods, triggered by a glacier collapse, hit the region last week. Almost 1,300 people have died in Nepal, with thousands still missing, including about 900 workers at various hydropower projects that run along the Trishuli River.
Sah’s sister, Sudha, told CNN she was “hopeful for his survival,” having tracked news of the rescue online. “I saw his photo,” the 19-year-old woman said. “I was really surprised.”
China relocates customs facilities at port along Nepal border
China on Thursday announced the relocation of its customs facilities at a port in Tibet along its border with Nepal over concerns about potential disaster risks.
Zhangmu Port, about 40 miles away from flood-hit Gyirong, will adjust the location of its customs and immigration inspection facilities from September 5.
The move is to “safeguard the personal and property safety of inbound and outbound travelers,” authorities said, adding that “the risk of geological disasters is prominent.”
China has not updated its number of deaths and missing from the disaster since Wednesday, when it reported that 21 were killed and over 500 missing.
China has received over 800 phone inquiries from family members of the missing, according to state media Xinhua.
Missing tunnel worker's brother says he hopes the team have helped each other stay alive
The brother of a man missing for more than nine days after devastating flash floods in Nepal rendered him trapped in a tunnel near the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project has said the recovery of two workers renewed the family’s hope his brother might return alive.
“We hope the rest of the team are all inside together, that they have somehow helped each other to stay alive,” Kshitiz Samaser Regmi, 30, told CNN via telephone.
Regmi explained that his brother, 40-year-old Niraj Babu Regmi whose wife and two daughters are waiting for him at their home in Abu Khaireni, usually works at a different site, but had been moved to Trishuli just two days before the flood hit.
“We don’t know if he was inside, whether he is dead or alive. But we are seeing the team’s working day and night and this helps and brings us hope,” he said.
Two days after the flood destroyed swathes of infrastructure on the Nepal-China border, Regmi went with his father and brother to try to reach the tunnel, but were held back by debris-strewn floors, broken bridges and roads.
The ground was difficult to walk on, he said, and his family are now relying on the hard work of rescue teams which he said is “keeping our hope alive.”
“If he is brought out, I would immediately go to him, bring him whatever he wants and needs and be there for him during his recovery,” Regmi promised.
How rescuers are searching for survivors in "Goldilocks zone"
CNN is receiving more information on how the rescuers at the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station are pushing ahead with their mission, with two people pulled from the wreckage so far.
Army rescuers are digging by hand at a specific point at the top of the stricken tunnel to try to reach any survivors inside, geologist Arnold Dix, who’s advising the operation, told CNN.
Dix calls the area the “Goldilocks zone,” where he believes workers could have survived.
Outside the tunnel’s entrance was completely blocked by the landslide. Rescuers found the entrance to the tunnel on Monday morning – five days after the flood – and have been been methodically digging since then.
The discovery of two men alive in Trishuli 3A on Friday has given rescuers “renewed hope” at other power stations where almost 900 workers remain missing, Dix said.
Tunnel rescues follow period of destruction and heartache
Two people have been rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, a dramatic breakthrough more than a week after catastrophic floods hit the country’s border with China.
Today’s miraculous rescues are a rare bright spot in what has been a devastating nine days for Nepal and China.
Last Wednesday, just after 8:30 a.m. Nepal time, a large piece of glacier near the countries’ border detached from a mountainside. That glacial collapse triggered a massive landslide and catastrophic flash flooding in both countries.
Entire communities were swept away without warning. Homes, schools, playgrounds, and other markers of life were reduced to a gushing river of “liquid cement.”
Hundreds of people were killed, and thousands more were left missing, many of them foreigners who had visited the Himalayas for a once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage.
In the long nine days since the disaster, authorities have been contending with communication blackouts, road blockages and the threat of further floods, as they try to rescue survivors and recover the bodies of victims.
While thousands of people have been rescued so far, hundreds have been found dead. With morgues at capacity, Nepali authorities were forced to bury hundreds of bodies in a mass grave.
The plight of the nearly 1,000 workers trapped in Nepal’s vast system of hydropower tunnels added a new element of terror and challenge for rescuers, with specialized teams coming in to assist Nepali authorities with the daunting rescue.
Despite a colossal effort, as the days ticked on with no sign of life inside the muddy darkness, hopes had dimmed for recovering the workers alive.
Then, this morning, rescuers heard voices.
Rescued man says he didn't have time to escape after getting others to evacuate
We’re hearing from the first man who was rescued today at the hydropower tunnel.
In a video seen online, Sanjay Sah was heard asking what the date was — he had no idea how many days he was trapped inside the facility.
The clip showed him lying under a blanket and wearing an oxygen mask. The 30-year-old mechanical foreman said it took some time to get others in the tunnel to evacuate and that he didn’t have enough time to escape himself.
Sah said usually there would only a handful of people in the area where he was in the tunnel but there were 40 to 45 people present when disaster struck. He did not say why there were more people.
“It was my responsibility to save everyone’s life,” he said.
He said he thinks there might still be some people trapped inside. “I don’t think everyone was able to escape. The tunnel is very long,” he said.
Sah said he kept his spirits up by chanting Hindu mantras while inside the tunnel.
Rescuers working at tunnel where men were found remain hopeful of finding others alive
CNN’s Hanako Montgomery witnesses the massive rescue operation underway at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant, where two men were found alive after nine days trapped in a tunnel.
The rescue has renewed hopes more people will be found alive in the tunnel.
Two men were rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, a dramatic breakthrough more than a week after catastrophic floods hit the country’s border with China. It’s not clear how many people are inside the tunnel, according to a lawmaker. CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports from the scene of the rescue operations.
Rescued men arrive at hospital in Kathmandu
The two men rescued alive after nine days trapped in a hydropower tunnel in Nepal have arrived at the Birendra Army Hospital in Chhauni, Kathmandu.
Images from a CNN team on the ground showed the men being stretchered from a helicopter to a waiting ambulance.
Sanjay Sah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, were rescued on Friday morning from the tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant, where rescuers had been working for more than a week in the hopes of finding people alive.
CNN team witnesses ongoing rescue operation after two men found alive in tunnel
CNN’s Hanako Montgomery and Daniel Campisi are at the hydropower plant where earlier two men were miraculously pulled from a tunnel after being trapped inside for more than a week.
Photos they filed from the scene showed rescuers continuing efforts to locate other workers who are believed to remain trapped in there.
As you can see from the photos coming in, the area is incredibly remote and connectivity is limited, underscoring just how tough this rescue effort remains for those working day and night to save their friends and colleagues.
We will bring you more as it comes in.
Walls outside army barracks testify to those still missing
Amid a surge of hope after two men were pulled alive from a hydro tunnel nine days after the disaster, the walls of buildings outside the Trishuli barracks testify to just how many are still missing.
Posters carrying the names, ages, and nationalities of the missing still plaster the walls. Most are Nepali, while some are Korean and Chinese. And many are pictured wearing high-visibility clothing and hard hats.
More than 5,000 people are missing in Nepal following last week’s catastrophic floods, and more than 900 of those people were workers at hydropower projects.
This time last Friday crowds of people were gathered outside this barracks seeking information about missing loved ones. Today around two dozen people have gathered here.
