‘Layer of Miracles’: Nepal Tunnel Rescue Defies Odds After Deadly Floods

A tunnelling specialist involved in the dramatic rescue of two men trapped inside a blocked Nepalese hydropower station has described the operation as a series of extraordinary coincidences.

Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, provided details to the BBC on Friday regarding the effort to dig through debris to reach the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station. The facility was among several hit by massive flash floods near the Nepal-Tibet border last week, an event that has so far killed approximately 1,300 people.

“It’s like layer upon layer of miracles” that the two men were found alive, Dix said, citing the multitude of obstacles faced by the team.

The initial challenge was locating the hydropower station itself in terrain rendered unrecognizable by the disaster. The entrance, previously situated up a hillside, had been completely buried by an avalanche of mud and rock.

“I’ve never known a rescue operation where you had to look for an entrance of a tunnel that was previously up the hill, that was now underground,” Dix noted. “You can imagine the enormity of the avalanche; it completely buried the entrance.”

To find the way in, Dix and his colleagues used engineering techniques, old topographic maps, satellite imagery, helicopter footage, and visual markers such as power poles to triangulate the entrance’s location.

Once the entrance was located, the team faced the task of navigating a tunnel entirely obstructed by mud and boulders larger than cars. Rescuers were forced to use explosives to clear a path, a risky maneuver given the potential to harm those trapped inside or collapse the structure further.

Dix credited the Nepalese army with executing the explosions with precision. “We had to use explosives which we normally never do because of the risk of blowing up people [trapped in the tunnel] and blowing ourselves up,” he said.

Complicating matters further, the tunnel remained flooded. Rescuers employed excavators and pumping machines to dig a series of trenches leading from the tunnel to the river outside, allowing them to drain the water and proceed with the search.