[Anchor]
Two Nepali men have been miraculously rescued from inside an underground tunnel at a hydropower plant in Nepal. They returned alive after nine days trapped in a tunnel buried under mud and debris. They also reported that several other people are still alive inside the tunnel.
Correspondent Han Sang-woo reports from Nepal.
[Reporter]
As the voices of survivors are heard from the thick darkness inside a tunnel where it is difficult to even straighten one's back, rescue workers approach.
Nepali rescue workers discover a man covered in mud and carry him out on a stretcher.
After barely passing through the narrow tunnel, they finally reach the exit. When the survivor comes into view, cheers erupt at the tunnel entrance.
Another man, his whole body covered in mud and supported by rescue workers, emerges from the pit.
He raises one hand with difficulty, as if expressing gratitude to the rescue team.
[Nepali Military Doctor: One of the rescued individuals is named Sanjay Sah, and he has just been rescued. He is 32 years old and was working in the machine control room. His initial vital signs are normal.]
The rescued men are Sanjay Sah, a mechanical foreman at the plant, and Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, both of whom are Nepali.
They were loaded onto a helicopter and immediately transferred to a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu. While Sanjay Sah is in good health, Maharjan is reportedly in critical condition, unable to move his hands and feet.
Sanjay Sah, who said he was on duty in the control room, stated that there were about 40 people inside the tunnel at the time. After shouting for everyone to run out and evacuate, it was already too late for him to escape himself.
[Sanjay Sah / Tunnel Survivor: While saving everyone, I announced that the dam had collapsed and that everyone had to run outside. During that time, the time (to evacuate) ran out, and eventually I couldn't get out.]
He said he endured by reciting Hindu mantras inside the tunnel.
He also conveyed that there were three or four other people nearby with whom he could communicate by speaking or making sounds.
The site where the rescue took place is the Upper Trishuli 3A tunnel, located about 6 kilometers southwest along the river from the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant area, where missing South Koreans are presumed to be.
The Nepali military believed that there was a high possibility of survivors because this tunnel was an operational power plant equipped with oxygen pipes and other facilities. They have concentrated on rescue efforts, mobilizing excavators to reach the tunnel entrance blocked by mud.
The miraculous news of the rescue, delivered nine days after the massive flood, is providing no small comfort to the people of Nepal who have fallen into shock from the disaster.
(Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik, Design: Taeyoung)
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