2 trapped workers rescued alive from Nepal tunnel 9 days after floods

Two hydropower workers were pulled from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal on Friday, more than a week after catastrophic flooding swept through the area, government ministers said.

Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled from a muddy opening, video released by the energy ministry showed. He was helped to his feet by rescuers.

A photograph showed the second man caked in mud, his hands pressed together in prayer, as rescuers carried him away on an orange stretcher.

The men were named as Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor, by Home Minister Sudan Gurung.

“I am so happy, my heart is lighter,” Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, said.

The two are among hundreds of hydropower workers missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on August 26.