For 10 days, Nepali hydropower worker Sanjay Sah was trapped in darkness inside a flooded tunnel, surviving on muddy water, losing track of time and praying that rescuers would find him.
When a disaster response team finally brought him to safety on 4 September, Mr Sah’s first question revealed just how completely the ordeal had unsettled him.
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“When I was rescued I first asked, how many days has it been?” Mr Sah, 30, said in an interview while travelling home to Saptari district.
“He said that it has been 10 days. I thought it had been just a few days.”
His survival offered a rare moment of hope after a disaster that killed at least 1,429 people and left more than 5,640 missing, most of them in Nepal.
The disaster killed at least 1,429 people and left more than 5,640 missing
As friends and relatives greeted him with garlands and a cake, Mr Sah struggled to hold back tears while describing how quickly the disaster unfolded.
“I was on duty, and then suddenly an unthinkable flood hit us, with tsunami-like waves that were several metres tall,” he said.
Workers had been warned that floodwaters were moving towards them, but the alert came too late to allow everyone to escape, he said.
“We did get information to stay alert, that a big flood is coming. As much as possible, we tried to be alert and evacuate our friends,” Mr Sah said.
“But the water did not give us much time … we shut down everything, and tried to rescue and evacuate our friends.”
Within minutes, torrents had swept through the tunnel and left it submerged.
Witnesses said they had never seen a flood of such force. The government has blamed the devastating impact on Nepal’s Himalayan mountains on the pressures of rising global temperatures.
‘Divine energy’
Cut off from his colleagues, Mr Sah was left stranded with no idea whether rescuers would reach him or whether he would ever see his family again.
His Hindu faith became a source of strength during the long days of darkness and isolation.
“I survived because of my deep belief and confidence,” Mr Sah said
“I was chanting Maha Mantra (Hindu prayers), and the divine energy I received because of that allowed me to not be scared or despair,” he said.
“I was able to stay there.”
With no access to clean drinking water, he relied on whatever was available around him.
“There was water, but it was muddy,” he said. “I only had that.”
The isolation was severe, but Mr Sah was not completely alone.
Another worker, 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan, was trapped nearby.
“We were separated but speaking to each other.”
Hearing another person’s voice gave Mr Sah a vital connection to the outside world.
Search teams brought the trapped men out alive after days of rescue efforts
After days of digging and painstaking rescue work, search teams finally reached the two men and brought them out alive.
Mr Sah’s wife, Lakshmi Kumari Sah, said she had continued to believe that her husband would return.
“God has helped us, we had our hopes,” she said, holding their daughter in her arms.
Mr Sah spent several days recovering in a Kathmandu hospital and said he was confronting conflicting emotions.
“I am happy, but I feel sad too,” he said. “I was able to get a second life, to survive there. But many of our friends were there.”
With rescuers still searching the tunnels, Mr Sah urged authorities to continue the operation.
One Chinese worker was rescued on 5 September, the day after Mr Sah, but no signs of life have been heard since.
“I hope the government continues its search and rescue. It is possible there might still be someone alive,” he said.
“Or they will be able to find bodies of friends who have passed away and hand them over to their families.”
