Two workers were rescued alive from a tunnel in Nepal more than a week after the floods

Rescue workers in Nepal succeeded in bringing out two workers alive, after they were stuck inside a power plant tunnel, more than a week after floods in the Himalayas region.

Rescue teams later found the body of a third person. The director of the Nepal Electricity Authority told the BBC that the condition of his body makes it difficult to identify his identity until now.

Another 39 people are expected to be rescued, after rescue workers reported hearing voices inside the tunnel on Friday morning.

The two workers who were airlifted to a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu, were injured in the hands and legs, most likely due to crawling inside the tunnel, according to what local authorities told the BBC.

The two workers were identified after their rescue as Sanjayah Saha and Kabir Maharjan.

The hydroelectric power plants include an extensive network of tunnels, extending underground along the Trishuli River.

It is likely that mud filled many of these dams after floodwaters overtook them and flooded the rivers.

Some workers were able to get out, and it is likely that there are more than 150 other people stuck inside the tunnels of these stations.

I spoke to Arnold Dix, president of the International Association of Tunnels and Underground Spaces, who has been advising the Nepalese government on how to carry out the rescue.

He said: "I have never witnessed a rescue operation before. You had to search for the entrance to a tunnel that was at the top of the mountain, and it became buried underground."

He added: "You can imagine the size of the huge avalanche. It completely buried the entrance."

Rescue teams were able to determine a location for digging using satellite data, and eventually found the entrance. The next challenge was locating survivors.

“We didn't know where they were, and we had to rely on our best judgment using technology,” Dix said.

The rescue teams worked inside a tunnel that was completely blocked by mud and huge rocks, some of which were larger than cars, and had to use explosives, “which we usually never do because of the risk of people being killed by the explosion,” Dix said.

He added: "Then we found these two men. It was like layers upon layers of miracles."

Dix later said that rescue workers were able to advance 60 meters into one of the tunnels, adding that the remaining distance of this tunnel is 150 metres.

After announcing the rescue of the workers alive on Friday morning from inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3I hydroelectric facility, Hiroshiva, the wife of worker Kabir Maharjan, expressed great joy to the BBC in Nepal at hearing the news.

"I saw the pictures on Facebook. I was very happy. They are bringing him to the army hospital in Kathmandu. I am going to the hospital," Hiroshiva said.

She added, "We could not eat or drink well for ten days. We were very afraid. Now we are happy, we even cry."

Kabir Maharjan's brother, Amir, told Agence France-Presse after announcing his brother's rescue that he feels his heart is lighter now.

Reuters quoted an assistant to the Minister of Energy as saying that Maharjan cannot move his hands and legs, but the injuries of the other worker, Sanjayah Saha, are not serious.

On Friday morning, the Nepalese government published pictures of the two workers being rescued from the tunnel and transported on two stretchers.

Reuters said that officials and rescue workers in Nepal believe that there are likely at least 900 people trapped in tunnels belonging to six hydroelectric projects along the Trishuli River, as a result of the avalanche on August 26.

Agence France-Presse reported that, until Friday, the Nepalese authorities had only found a number of bodies in tunnels flooded with water and mud in the area, after using explosives and bulldozers to open a passage.