Two Workers Rescued from Nepal Hydropower Tunnel Nine Days After Catastrophic Floods
6 sources across 6 countries
Who reported this
- The Daily Star
- G1
- Corriere della Sera
- Taipei Times
- The Guardian
- CNN
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Rescuers in Nepal have pulled two men alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower station nine days after devastating floods and a glacial collapse struck the region on August 26. The survivors, identified as mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah and mechanical supervisor Kabir Maharjan, were transported to an army hospital in Kathmandu. Sah reported that he survived by reciting Hindu mantras and had urged other colleagues to flee the control room before he became trapped. While Sah's injuries are not considered critical, reports indicate that Maharjan has experienced loss of movement in his limbs.
The rescue operation involved significant challenges. Rescuers used satellite imagery to locate the tunnel and employed explosives to clear vehicle sized rocks. To reach the survivors, teams drilled ventilation ducts and dug an emergency trench to drain water from the tunnel. One survivor indicated that other people may still be alive deeper within the tunnel. Experts and officials noted that the rescue provides a flicker of hope for the hundreds of others still missing.
The scale of the disaster is immense. Estimates of the death toll vary slightly between sources, ranging from 1,287 to 1,325 people. More than 5,000 people remain missing, including approximately 900 workers from various hydropower projects. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority estimated that infrastructure and property damage totals approximately 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees, or about 2.56 billion US dollars. International assistance has arrived on the scene, including disaster response specialists from Australia. The United Nations has appealed for 50 million US dollars to assist the 84,000 people affected by the flooding as winter approaches.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- These outlets focused on the human interest elements of the survival and the technical challenges of the rescue operation.
- Centre
- This outlet emphasized the scale of the tragedy and the broader economic and diplomatic context, including Chinese border restrictions.
- Centre-right
- This outlet provided a concise report focusing on the official confirmation of the rescue by government figures.
Sources
- Centre-left CNN: Watch as two men are pulled alive from Nepal tunnel nine days after floods
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: Nepal, workers extracted alive after nine days
- Centre-left G1: In Nepal, two men are rescued after being trapped for 9 days in a tunnel
- Centre-left Taipei Times: Rescuers save two trapped tunnel workers in Nepal
- Centre The Daily Star: Nepal hydropower tunnel: ‘Miracle’ as 2 pulled alive after 9 days
- Centre-left The Guardian: Rescue of Nepal hydropower workers ‘triumph for humans and humanity’, tunnelling expert says
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.