These men had a hellish escape from Nepal’s flooded hydro tunnels. They were the lucky ones

Nepal Flooded Tunnels: These Men Had a Hellish Escape

Healfromzero.com – These men had a hellish escape from the depths of Nepal’s hydropower tunnels, clinging to metal rungs and scraps of tin while a wall of floodwater roared through passages carved into the Himalayan rock. The Trishuli basin, long marketed as the engine of Nepal’s energy independence, became a killing zone when a catastrophic deluge tore through deep-bore tunnels, swallowed entire settlements, and left more than 900 laborers unaccounted for. The flood’s reach stretched roughly 62 miles (100 km) downstream, turning the river a black slurry of ice, silt, and wreckage while the peaks above released a torrent that obliterated communities in its path.

Six Hours in Absolute Darkness

Ram Chandra felt the current seize his boots before he could react. Shattered concrete and debris surged through the tunnel’s black throat, and his only anchor was a single metal rung bolted into the ceiling. His colleagues — a small cluster of men working hundreds of meters from any exit — faced the same rising water. These men had a hellish six-hour ordeal in absolute darkness, passing a sheet of tin hand to hand to create makeshift footholds as they advanced rung by rung toward the tunnel mouth. By the time daylight found them, a seventh worker had been discovered waiting at the gate. The torrent had stripped every garment from their bodies. Stepping into the open, they confronted the full scale of destruction: the river below still churning with debris, the peaks overhead still shedding water that would claim hundreds of lives downstream.

“The water was rising and it was difficult to move my legs. If I had let go from that rung I would have fallen.”

The Scale of the Loss and the Rescue Effort

Of the workers embedded across Nepal’s sprawling hydropower infrastructure, approximately 279 have been pulled from the mud-and-silt-choked tunnels or have managed to trudge out under their own power. The remainder are feared trapped. At the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant, rescue crews labored through the night into Sunday, boring shafts downward to pump in compressed air and lower food supplies — a desperate bid to reach anyone still alive inside the sealed passages. These men had a hellish night that stripped everything from them, and the men who survived found themselves standing in borrowed trousers, shirts, and sandals lent by villagers who rushed to help them reach safety.

Nepal’s hydropower sector has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, drawing tens of thousands of laborers — many from remote western districts — into projects that carve kilometers of tunnel through the world’s highest mountain range. The workforce is overwhelmingly male, often working in shifts far from home, sending remittances back to villages that depend on those earnings. When disaster strikes, the absence of a single worker can unravel an entire household’s economic survival.

Running Up the Rocky Slope

Madan Singh Budha had just stepped off the night shift at Upper Trishuli tunnel number 2 when the deluge hit. He turned to find water already pouring across the landscape and started running up the hill. The slope was rocky, threaded with tufts of grass that workers used as handholds while scrambling upward. Those who could not climb were swept away. Budha was airlifted out of the disaster zone by helicopter on Sunday. What followed was a frantic, disorienting search for colleagues — a task made nearly impossible by the scale of the destruction and the chaos of communication.

“When I looked outside, I could see water and so I started running up the hill.”

The Jumla Connection

Budha, Chandra, and roughly fifteen other rescued workers CNN interviewed all hail from Jumla, a district in Nepal’s far west where maize terraces cling to vertiginous mountainsides and village life runs on tight-knit kinship networks. The region feels a world away from the industrial corridors of the Trishuli valley, yet its young men have long been drawn eastward by the wages hydro projects offer. Every member of the group CNN spoke with had lost a relative or close friend in the flood.

Bhakti Ram Bohara, another survivor, placed himself in a grim minority. He estimated that roughly 1,000 men were working across his project and adjacent sites when the waters came. Only about 100 had escaped. Among the missing was his brother-in-law — a man who had shared the same work team, spending weeks at a time away from family and wiring money home.

“His wife is my sister, and she is pregnant.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How many workers are missing from Nepal’s flooded hydro tunnels?

More than 900 laborers remain unaccounted for as of the latest reports. Approximately 279 have been recovered or have walked out under their own power. Rescue operations continue at sites including the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant, where crews are boring access shafts to deliver compressed air and food to anyone still sealed inside.

Where did the rescued workers interviewed by CNN come from?

All roughly 17 rescued workers CNN spoke with were from Jumla, a district in Nepal’s far west. Jumla’s young men have long migrated eastward for hydro-project wages, and every individual CNN interviewed had lost a relative or close friend in the flood.

What caused the flooding in the Trishuli tunnel complex?

A catastrophic deluge — a sudden, massive release of water from the surrounding mountains — tore through the deep-bore hydropower tunnels. The flood stretched roughly 62 miles (100 km) downstream, carrying ice, silt, and wreckage and obliterating communities along its path.

What are rescue crews doing to reach trapped workers?

At the Trishuli 3A plant, crews bored shafts downward to pump in compressed air and lower food supplies. Helicopters airlifted survivors out of the disaster zone. The scale of destruction and communication chaos made locating specific trapped workers extremely difficult.