In a significant rescue operation, soldiers from the Nepal Army saved a worker from a tunnel at the Trishuli-3A hydropower project in Nepal’s Rasuwa district on Friday, September 4, 2026. This success comes amid ongoing efforts to locate the remaining people believed to be trapped underground.

The rescue took place nine days after catastrophic floods, possibly triggered by a glacier collapse, wreaked havoc on towns and villages in Nepal on August 26. Two workers, identified as a mechanical foreman and a supervisor, emerged alive from the Trishuli 3A tunnel.

Nepalese lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane shared news of the second rescue via Facebook shortly after Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet, an army spokesperson, confirmed the first worker’s rescue. The first rescued worker, seen covered in mud, was carried out on a rescuer’s shoulder, a moment that captured attention on local television news channels. Both individuals were in stable condition and transported to a hospital in Kathmandu for further treatment.

Despite these rescues, a daunting 557 workers are still unaccounted for from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project along the Trishuli River. Approximately 115 of these are believed trapped within the main tunnel, according to the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal.

Rescuers on the site remain hopeful, with Nepal’s Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina expressing optimism about finding more survivors. “We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” Timilsina wrote online.

The flood has claimed at least 1,259 lives in Nepal, with over 5,000 individuals still missing, as reported by the country’s disaster management agency. Neighboring China has reported 21 deaths on the Tibet side of the border, with 541 people missing as of late Wednesday.

Across Nepal, about 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects, with roughly 500 thought to be stuck inside tunnels, highlighting the severity of the disaster’s impact on infrastructure and human life.