eko-saputra
For ten grueling days, Sanjay Sah remained trapped within the pitch-black confines of a subterranean hydropower tunnel in northern Nepal, surrounded by rising mud and debris. The 30-year-old laborer endured extreme isolation, sustaining himself solely on muddy water while clinging to prayer as catastrophic floodwaters sealed off his only route of escape. His eventual extraction by emergency responders has emerged as a rare narrative of survival amid one of the region's deadliest environmental catastrophes in recent memory.
When rescue workers finally cleared through the debris and pulled him to safety on September 4, Sah was so utterly disoriented by the prolonged darkness that he had lost all concept of time. Upon seeing his rescuers, his immediate inquiry was to ask how many days had elapsed since the disaster began. Upon learning that ten full days had passed, Sah expressed disbelief, having believed in the sensory vacuum of the tunnel that only a fraction of that time had slipped away.
The disaster that ensnared Sah occurred on August 26, when a massive glacial mountain collapse along the China-Nepal border triggered an unprecedented wall of water and debris. The sudden deluge barreled down Himalayan river valleys, overwhelming critical infrastructure and striking a series of active hydropower installations along its path. The catastrophe claimed at least 1,429 lives and left more than 5,640 people missing, with the overwhelming majority of the devastation concentrated within Nepal.
Sah recounted the terrifying speed with which the disaster unfolded while he was on active duty at the facility. What began as a routine shift quickly transformed into a struggle for survival as immense, tsunami-like waves measuring several meters in height surged violently toward the site. The sheer volume and velocity of the water gave the workforce almost no opportunity to retreat to higher ground.
Prior to the full impact, personnel on site received urgent alerts instructing them to prepare for an incoming flash flood. Sah and his coworkers immediately mobilized to shut down heavy machinery and initiate emergency evacuation procedures to assist fellow laborers. However, the advancing torrent moved far faster than anticipated, engulfing the tunnel system within minutes and cutting off avenues of escape before full evacuation could be achieved.
Once the torrent swamped the subterranean chambers, Sah found himself entirely cut off from the outside world in absolute darkness. With no access to rations or clean drinking supplies, he was forced to subsist by drinking the murky, sediment-heavy water pooled around him. The extreme physical deprivation was compounded by the uncertainty of whether emergency response teams would ever be able to locate him beneath the massive layers of silt.
Throughout the ordeal, Sah leaned heavily on his spiritual convictions to maintain psychological endurance. Immersed in total isolation, he continually recited the Maha Mantra, drawing strength from his Hindu faith to stave off overwhelming dread and despair. He later reflected that the mental fortitude and divine energy cultivated through continuous prayer allowed him to remain composed during the prolonged wait for help.
Although separated by debris, Sah was not entirely unaccompanied in the depths of the complex. Another trapped laborer, 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan, had also managed to find a pocket of air nearby. While physical contact was impossible, the two men were able to call out to one another through the dark, providing vital vocal reassurance that kept their spirits intact during the most despairing moments of their confinement.
The successful extraction came after days of perilous, around-the-clock excavation by disaster management authorities. Rescue personnel, including specialized units from the Nepali Army, deployed heavy equipment alongside tactical rigging, such as temporary rope systems, to navigate flooded shafts at damaged installations like the Chilime Hydropower Station in Rasuwa district. Their persistent efforts eventually broke through the blockage to reach both trapped workers.
Following his rescue, Sah was transferred to a medical facility in Kathmandu, where he spent several days undergoing treatment and recovering from severe dehydration and exhaustion. After being discharged, he began the long journey home to his native village in the southern district of Saptari, where an anxious community awaited his return.
Upon his arrival home, Sah was welcomed with intense celebration by relatives, friends, and neighbors who had decorated his residence with colorful adornments and balloons. The emotional homecoming featured traditional blessings, ceremonial garlands, and the cutting of a celebratory cake. Overcome with relief, his mother, Kapur Devi Sah, wept as she embraced him, subsequently performing a traditional ritual of washing his feet to mark his auspicious deliverance from tragedy.
His wife, Lakshmi Kumari Sah, who held their young daughter throughout the celebrations, reflected on the agonizing period of uncertainty while her husband was missing. She maintained that her family never relinquished hope, trusting that faith and persistent rescue operations would eventually bring him back alive despite the grim reports emerging from the disaster zone.
The catastrophic event has drawn renewed scrutiny toward the vulnerability of high-altitude infrastructure in the Himalayas. Nepalese authorities have pointed to the undeniable consequences of rising global temperatures, which accelerate glacial instability, permafrost degradation, and unpredictable mountain collapses, placing river valleys and downstream energy projects at catastrophic risk.
While Sah and Maharjan were successfully freed, subsequent discoveries of life within the inundated complexes have been tragically limited. Search teams managed to extricate a trapped Chinese worker on September 5, the day after Sah's extraction, but no further signs of life have been detected in the subterranean networks since that operation.
Reflecting on his experience, Sah voiced deeply conflicting emotions, acknowledging immense gratitude for what he terms a "second life" while remaining profoundly shaken by the loss of his colleagues. The joy of his personal survival remains heavily shadowed by the knowledge that numerous fellow workers remain unaccounted for beneath the mud.
As emergency units continue to sift through tonnes of debris, Sah has made a public appeal urging government authorities not to terminate search-and-rescue efforts prematurely. He emphasized that teams must maintain their operations in the hope that other survivors might still be holding out in isolated pockets, or, at the very least, to recover the remains of deceased workers so their families can receive closure.
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