Nepal: Ten Days Trapped in a Tunnel, the Heartbreaking Tale of a Flood Survivor

Sunday 13 September 2026 - 07:17

Trapped for ten days in a dark, mud-filled tunnel, Sanjay Sah waited for rescue under extreme conditions. At 30 years old, this Nepalese worker is among the few who managed to survive several days after the devastating floods that struck the country on August 26.

When rescuers finally found him on September 4, Sanjay Sah had lost all sense of time. His first concern, after being pulled from the tunnel, was not to ask where he was, but how many days had passed since the disaster began. He thought he had been trapped for just a few days. The reality was starkly different: ten days had passed in darkness.

An Endless Wait in the Mud

The young man was working on a dam construction site in northern Nepal, a mountainous region near the Chinese border. Like many workers present at these sites, he was caught off guard by the surge of water, mud, and debris that flooded the infrastructure after the storms on August 26.

Trapped in a tunnel, Sanjay Sah found himself cut off from the outside world. Without light and with extremely limited supplies, he had to find ways to hold on until the hypothetical arrival of rescue.

The water available around him was muddy. Yet, it was this water that he consumed to avoid succumbing to dehydration. In this hostile environment, every hour represented a new ordeal, as the chances of being found gradually diminished.

Another Worker to Combat Loneliness

In this ordeal, Sanjay Sah was not entirely alone. A few meters away was Kabir Maharjan, another worker aged 45. His presence provided valuable support for both men, who were facing a situation with an uncertain outcome.

Being able to communicate with another survivor allowed them to maintain a human connection while the tunnel was completely cut off from the outside. Both waited for rescue under particularly trying conditions.

A Deadly Catastrophe

The tragedy is part of a large-scale disaster that affected several sectors of Nepal. Flash floods and landslides caused significant damage, particularly in areas where infrastructure was already difficult to access due to the terrain.

Hydropower construction sites and ongoing works in the northern part of the country were particularly exposed. Workers found themselves trapped in tunnels or isolated by water and mudslides.

According to preliminary reports at the time of Sanjay Sah's testimony, the disaster had claimed 1,386 lives and left 5,130 missing in Nepal. These figures reflect the extraordinary scale of the disaster and the difficulty of search operations in the affected areas.

A Miraculous Escape

After ten days underground, Sanjay Sah's extraction represents one of the few survival stories at the heart of this catastrophe. Weakened, disoriented, and marked by his experience, the worker was able to leave the place where he had been imprisoned and begin his journey back home to Saptari district in the southeast of the country.

His testimony illustrates the human dimension of a disaster that has already claimed thousands of victims. Behind the statistics and rescue operations, his story also highlights the particularly difficult conditions faced by workers employed on large construction sites isolated in Nepal's mountainous regions.