Rescue teams in Nepal have pulled two more workers alive from debris 10 days after devastating floods hit a hydropower project, according to reporting from CBS News. The operation brings the total number of workers rescued from a tunnel at the site to three, after two were freed a day earlier.
CBS News, citing local authorities and rescue personnel, reports that all of the rescued individuals had been trapped in or near a hydropower tunnel that was struck when flooding and debris swept through the area.
What We Know About the Rescue
According to CBS News’ event-focused coverage, the latest two workers were found and extracted from debris at the hydropower site 10 days after the floods. The report states that they had been trapped as floodwaters and mud surged into the project area, leaving workers stuck inside the tunnel and surrounding structures.
The same outlet reported a day earlier that two workers had been rescued from inside a tunnel nine days after the flooding. At that time, rescuers said they had heard additional voices, suggesting more survivors might still be inside. The new rescues confirm that at least some of those earlier sounds came from workers who were eventually reached.
Taken together, the two CBS News reports establish the following key points:
- A hydropower project in Nepal was struck by severe flooding and debris.
- Workers were trapped in a tunnel and nearby debris after the incident.
- Two workers were rescued from the tunnel nine days after the floods.
- Two more workers were rescued 10 days after the floods, bringing the total known rescued to three.
CBS News attributes its information to local officials and rescue teams on the ground, who have been working continuously at the site.
Conditions Inside the Hydropower Tunnel
The CBS News reporting repeatedly references the hydropower tunnel as the central location of the rescues. While detailed technical descriptions of the tunnel are not provided, the coverage makes clear that it was filled or blocked by floodwater, mud, and debris after the disaster.
Rescuers described working through layers of debris to reach trapped workers. The fact that survivors were found nine and then ten days after the floods indicates that at least some pockets of air and space remained inside the tunnel or nearby debris fields, though CBS News does not provide a precise description of the conditions the workers endured.
The reports do not specify the exact number of workers originally trapped, nor do they provide a full accounting of casualties. Instead, they focus on the confirmed rescues and the ongoing efforts to locate additional people.
How the Rescue Effort Has Unfolded
CBS News’ primary and event-direct reports outline a rescue effort that has stretched over at least 10 days since the floods struck the hydropower site.
In the earlier report, published when two workers were first pulled from the tunnel nine days after the incident, rescuers said they had detected voices from inside, suggesting more survivors might still be alive. That information guided continued digging and search operations.
The latest report, documenting the two additional rescues on the tenth day, indicates that teams continued to work through unstable debris and mud in and around the tunnel. The successful extraction of two more workers suggests that rescuers were able to follow sound, structural cues, or both to locate survivors in extremely difficult conditions.
CBS News attributes these details to local rescue authorities and emergency teams, who have been coordinating the operation. The reports do not specify the total size of the rescue force, the exact equipment used, or the full logistical setup, and those details cannot be confirmed from the available evidence.
Why This Matters
The rescues highlight both the scale of the flooding disaster at the hydropower project and the persistence of search teams who continued operations well beyond the first days after the incident. Finding survivors nine and ten days after such an event is uncommon and has drawn attention in the coverage reviewed.
Because the available reporting from CBS News focuses narrowly on the rescues themselves, it does not provide a comprehensive picture of the broader impact of the floods on the region, on Nepal’s power infrastructure, or on neighboring areas. It also does not describe any specific international or diplomatic response.
What is clear from the evidence is that:
- A major flood event hit a hydropower project in Nepal.
- Multiple workers were trapped in a tunnel and surrounding debris.
- Three workers are now confirmed rescued alive over two consecutive days, nine and ten days after the disaster.
Further developments to watch, based on the current reporting, include any additional rescues from the tunnel or debris, updated counts of missing or affected workers, and official investigations into how the flooding overwhelmed the hydropower site. As of the latest CBS News reports, those details have not yet been fully established in the public record.
