Nepal hydropower worker survives 10 days in flooded tunnel
Sanjay Sah, a hydropower worker in Nepal, survived for 10 days in total darkness inside a tunnel flooded by flash floods. He reportedly sustained himself by drinking muddy water until he was rescued.
First reported 2 days ago · latest update 1 day ago
The Nepali Army conducts a search-and-rescue operation inside the Chilime Hydropower Station tunnel days after deadly flash floods and mudslides in Nepal's Rasuwa district on September 10, 2026. Photo / Skanda Gautam, AFP
For 10 days, Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water and losing all sense of time as he desperately prayed for rescue.
When a disaster response team finally pulled him to safety on September 4, Sah’s first question showed how deeply the ordeal had disoriented him.
“When I was rescued I first asked, how many days has it been?” Sah, 30, told AFP in an interview, while on his way back home in Saptari district on Sunday.
“He said that it has been 10 days. I thought it had been just a few days.”
Sah was among hundreds of workers at a series of hydropower projects hit by the catastrophic August 26 flood, triggered by a glacial mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border.
Citations · 3 reports from 2 outlets
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‘Second life’: Nepal tunnel survivor recalls ordeal
Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived 10 days in a flooded tunnel.
1 day ago · Deepesh Deo Joshi'Second life': Nepal tunnel survivor recalls ordeal
For 10 days, Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water and losing all sense of time as he desperately prayed for rescue.
2 days ago'Second life': Nepal hydropower tunnel survivor recalls ordeal
Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in total darkness inside a tunnel flooded by the deadly flash flood that struck Nepal on August 26, drinking muddy water and praying that rescuers would find him. The survivor, who was rescued on September 4, recounts the ten days he spent stranded.
2 days ago · FRANCE 24