Miracle

Two hydropower workers were pulled alive from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal on Friday, a rare ray of hope on the tenth day of rescue efforts after catastrophic Himalayan flooding. Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled through a muddy opening, a video released by the energy ministry showed. He was helped to his feet and later carried on the backs of emergency workers, raising his hand as they took him towards a helicopter.

"As long as there is breath, there is hope!" Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha said in a statement. The men, both Nepali, were named as Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor. The prime minister's office said Shah was in a stable condition, and Maharjan was in intensive care.

Ten days

The two were among hundreds of hydropower workers who had been missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on August 26 after a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain on the China-Nepal border. The disaster has killed at least 1,280 people and left more than 5,500 missing.

Until Friday, none of the tunnel workers had been confirmed alive. Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix, who has been supporting the operation remotely, told AFP that the rescue efforts were "back in miracle country" after a "week of 24/7 heartache". Teams at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project believed they had heard a faint response from inside the tunnel. "They believe they received a faint response from inside saying, 'hunchha', yes or OK."