Trapped in an air pocket, drank muddy water and shouted "We are here!": The miracle of the survivors rescued in Nepal

Two weeks after the deadly glacier collapse and flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, with over 1,400 dead and 5,000 missing, four survivors were rescued alive from tunnels of hydroelectric power plants. The survivors recounted surviving in air pockets, drinking muddy water, experiencing hallucinations, and losing consciousness for nine days until they were miraculously rescued.

Exactly two weeks after the deadly glacier collapse and flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, the official death toll stands at over 1,400, with more than 5,000 people still missing, including over 580 foreign nationals and two Israelis. Rescue efforts are focused on three tunnels of hydroelectric power plants—Chilime, Trishuli A3, and B3—where an estimated 120 people are trapped. Over the weekend, four survivors were rescued alive, three from the tunnels: two workers on Friday, another Chinese worker on Saturday, and a 64-year-old woman found in the ruins of her home in a nearby village. Survivors Kabir Maharjan and foreman Sanjay Sah survived nine days in an air pocket in Tunnel A3, just 160 meters from the exit. Maharjan, who was in a hallucinatory state, floating between consciousness and unconsciousness in a puddle of muddy water, drank muddy water to survive and recited prayers. Sah recited Hindu prayers to maintain hope. Maharjan's wife, Hira Shova, said she assumed he would not survive after seeing photos of the site, which had become an exposed riverbed. Rescuers identified an escape ladder that could have saved up to two-thirds of the workers had they known of its existence.