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Agence France-Presse

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, aged 30, said 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.
Sah’s extraordinary survival was a rare ray of hope after a disaster that killed at least 1,429 people and left more than 5,640 missing, the majority in Nepal.
Family, friends and neighbours celebrated Sah’s return with garlands and a cake, and his home was adorned with balloons and colours.

His mother, Kapur Devi Sah, embraced him tightly as she cried, and later washed his feet for an auspicious welcome.
“My son has returned, I am very happy,” she said.
Struggling to hold back tears, Sah recalled how the disaster had struck with stunning speed.
“I was on duty, and then suddenly an unthinkable flood hit us, with tsunami-like waves that were several metres tall,” he said.
Workers had received warnings that floodwaters were approaching, but did not get enough time to escape, he said.
“We did get information to stay alert, that a big flood is coming. As much as possible, we tried to be alert and evacuate our friends,” Sah said.
“But the water did not give us much time … we shut down everything, and tried to rescue and evacuate our friends.”
Within minutes, however, the tunnel was engulfed by raging waters.
The sheer scale of the flood was unlike anything witnesses had seen before, with the government pointing the finger at the dire impact of rising global temperatures on Nepal’s Himalayan mountains.
‘Divine energy’
Separated from his colleagues, Sah found himself stranded with little idea whether anyone would ever reach him.

His Hindu faith helped carry him through the days of darkness and isolation.
“I survived because of my deep belief and confidence,” he said.
“I was chanting Maha Mantra [Hindu prayers], and the divine energy I received because of that allowed me to not be scared or despair,” he said.
“I was able to stay there.”
With no clean water to drink, he survived on whatever he could find.
“There was water, but it was muddy,” he said. “I only had that.”
The darkness and isolation might have been overwhelming, but Sah was not entirely alone.
Another trapped worker, Kabir Maharjan, 45, had survived nearby.
“We were separated but speaking to each other.”
The ability to hear another human voice offered a lifeline to Sah.
Eventually, after days of excavation and painstaking rescue efforts, search teams broke through to the trapped men and brought them out alive.
Sah’s wife, Lakshmi Kumari Sah, said she never gave up hope of seeing her husband again.

“God has helped us, we had our hopes,” she said, holding her daughter in her arms.
Sah, who spent several days recuperating in a Kathmandu hospital, says he has mixed emotions.
“I am happy, but I feel sad too,” he said. “I was able to get a second life, to survive there. But many of our friends were there.”
As rescuers continue searching through the tunnels, Sah urged authorities not to abandon the effort.
One Chinese worker was rescued on September 5, the day after Sah – but no signs of life have been heard since.
“I hope the government continues its search and rescue. It is possible there might still be someone alive,” he said.
“Or they will be able to find bodies of friends who have passed away and hand them over to their families.”


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Sanjay Sah, a survivor pulled out alive after spending nine days trapped in a hydropower station tunnel following flash floods and a mudslide, embraces his mother, Kapur Devi Sah, upon his arrival at their house in Tilathi Koiladi village in Saptari District, Nepal, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Kapur Devi Sah, mother of Sanjay Sah, ritually washes her son’s feet after he was rescued, in Tilathi Koiladi village in Saptari District, Nepal, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

The Nepali Army conducted a search-and-rescue operation inside the Chilime Hydropower Station days after deadly flash floods and mudslides in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, on Thursday. Photo: Agence France-Presse

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Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water for 10 days while praying for rescue


Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water for 10 days while praying for rescue.


Nepal flood survivor says rescue efforts must continue

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water for 10 days while praying for rescue

Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah survived in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water for 10 days while praying for rescue