Nepali foreman rescued after nine days says he stayed behind to save others

When a massive wall of ice, rock, and debris collapsed above the Nepali power plant where Sanjay Sah worked, he faced a critical decision: flee or stay behind to help. The mechanical foreman chose to remain and aid his colleagues. Rescued on Friday, nine days after the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station was devastated, Sah is among the first survivors to be extricated.

Sah recounted his ordeal from a stretcher, his oxygen mask visible in a video shared by Nepali authorities. He explained his responsibility to save lives was too great to abandon the others. "I urged everyone to evacuate, but when the time came, I could not make it out," he stated.

The Nepali Army believes at least 900 people remain trapped in the tunnels connected to six hydropower projects along the Trishuli river. Sah, aided by his voice carrying mantras, managed to maintain hope throughout his nine-day ordeal. He maintained contact with a few others in the tunnel, suggesting deeper entrapments.

Sah and fellow survivor Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, were the first to be rescued. Footage showed Sah being carried out on a worker's back, his face marked by mud. The Nepali Army's report indicates at least 1,287 fatalities and 5,083 people missing, a majority displaced. China's death toll is listed as 21, with 541 others missing. Both Sah and Maharjan are currently in intensive care at an army hospital in Kathmandu.