Drinking Muddy Water and Surviving 9 Days... A Miraculous Rescue

A Nepali mechanical foreman who was rescued on the 4th after being trapped in a hydropower plant tunnel due to heavy flooding in Nepal reportedly survived for nine days by drinking muddy water.

According to an interview report by Reuters, Sanjay Sah, a 30-year-old mechanical foreman working at Nepal's Trishuli 3A Hydropower Plant, was trapped inside a tunnel control room during massive floods on the 26th of last month.

The tunnel where Sah was trapped suffered extensive damage as mud and debris rushed in from the flood.

With equipment washed away and walls collapsing, the tunnel's structure changed, leaving Sah, who was normally familiar with the interior geography, unable to escape on his own.

Sah reportedly survived while waiting for rescue by drinking muddy water and water trickling down from the rocks inside the tunnel.

Although he moved around inside the tunnel at first, he decided to stay in one place after concluding that he could become trapped in an even more dangerous location.

About 10 hours before he was rescued, the sound of excavators began to be heard, and Nepali rescue teams eventually found and rescued Sah.

Sah was covered head to toe in mud at the time, and after being helped out by rescue workers, he was transported by helicopter.

Sah stated that after his rescue, he spent most of his time in the tunnel with his eyes closed and lost all sense of time.

He said that although he was actually trapped for nearly nine days, he thought only about two to three days had passed while inside the tunnel.

He also explained that when the flood occurred, he tried to evacuate other staff members but failed to escape the tunnel himself.

Sah stated that he thought of his family while inside the tunnel and did not let go of the hope that a rescue team would come.

He said he endured by thinking of his wife and two-year-old daughter, and that he continued to pray.

Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor who was with Sah, was also rescued on the 4th.

Sah was discharged from the Nepalese Army Hospital in Kathmandu on the 11th.

Due to the recent heavy floods, it is estimated that more than 1,400 people have died and over 5,600 remain missing in Nepal and China's Tibet Autonomous Region as of this day.

The floods were reportedly caused by a debris flow triggered when a glacier measuring about 600 meters wide collapsed along with rocks at an altitude of about 5,200 meters on Mount Langtang Lirung (elevation 7,234 meters) in Bagmati Province, north-central Nepal.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.