Two individuals were rescued on Friday from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, marking a rare success in the ongoing search for workers caught in the aftermath of late August floods. The workers had been trapped for nine days behind a barrier of mud and debris caused by the disaster.

There is a significant discrepancy regarding the scale of the ongoing crisis. NDTV reports that approximately 900 workers are missing across 12 different hydropower projects, with roughly 500 of those individuals believed to be trapped specifically within tunnels. France24 provides a more generalized assessment, stating that officials believe hundreds of workers remain trapped in tunnels connected to various hydropower projects throughout the remote Himalayan region, without providing the specific 900-person figure cited by NDTV.

Rescue efforts remain difficult due to the remote nature of the Himalayan terrain and the extensive debris blocking access to the underground facilities. While the rescue of the two workers provides a glimmer of hope, authorities have not yet provided a definitive count of the total casualties or the number of survivors still reachable within the tunnel networks.