Two workers have been rescued from a tunnel at the Trishul 3A hydropower plant in Nepal, nine days after devastating floods struck the region, and rescuers say they can hear the voices of more people still trapped inside. The men, identified as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor, were pulled to safety on Friday and are now under medical observation, offering renewed hope in a difficult search-and-rescue operation for dozens still unaccounted for.

The rescue forms part of an ongoing effort to bore into the tunnel to reach 42 workers who went missing after floods hit on 26 August. Nepal's disaster management agency reports at least 1,259 people killed and more than 5,000 still missing nationwide, while China said 21 people died and 541 remained missing on the Tibetan side of the border. Around 900 workers are unaccounted for across 12 hydropower projects in Nepal, with roughly 500 believed trapped in tunnels.