# He asked how many days it had been. The answer was 10.

> A Nepali hydropower worker spent 10 days sealed inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water and losing all track of time.
- Title: He asked how many days it had been. The answer was 10.
- Summary: A Nepali hydropower worker spent 10 days sealed inside a flooded tunnel, drinking muddy water and losing all track of time. Sah got out on muddy water…
- Keywords: nepal, flooding, survival, glaciers, climate change, news, world, asked, many, days, answer, Malay Mail
- Source: Malay Mail — https://malaymail.com/news/world/2026/09/13/how-many-days-has-it-been-a-nepali-survivors-first-words-after-surfacing-from-flooded-tunnel/235034
- Published: 2026-09-13T13:33:04+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: nepal, flooding, survival, glaciers, climate change, news, world
## Ten days in the dark
Sanjay Sah, 30, was sealed inside a flooded hydropower tunnel in Nepal for 10 days, drinking muddy water and praying that someone would reach him.
## His first question
A disaster response team pulled him out on September 4. He asked what day it was, and guessed only a few had passed. The darkness had taken the rest.

> He said that it has been 10 days. I thought it had been just a few days.
## A glacier gave way
The August 26 flood started with a glacial mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border, then tore through a chain of hydropower projects staffed by hundreds of workers.
## 1,429 dead, 5,640 missing
Most of the casualties were in Nepal. Against a count that size, one man walking out alive after 10 days was the rare piece of good news.
## The warning came too late
Workers were told a big flood was coming. Sah says they used the minutes they had to shut everything down and get colleagues out, then the waves swallowed the tunnel.

> But the water did not give us much time... we shut down everything, and tried to rescue and evacuate our friends.
## Warming mountains, bigger floods
Witnesses said the scale of the water was beyond anything they had seen. The government points at rising global temperatures and what they are doing to Nepal's Himalayan ice.
## Chanting in the dark
Sah credits his Hindu faith with holding him together. He repeated the Maha Mantra through the days of isolation and says it kept the panic off him.

> I survived because of my deep belief and confidence
## Muddy water, nothing else
There was no clean water anywhere in the tunnel. He drank what was there, silt and all, for the full 10 days.

> There was water, but it was muddy. I only had that.
## A voice nearby
Another trapped worker, 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan, had survived a short distance away. They could not reach each other, but they could talk, and that was enough.

> We were separated but speaking to each other.
## Garlands, cake, guilt
Rescuers dug through for days before breaking into the men. His wife, Lakshmi Kumari Sah, says she never stopped expecting him. He calls it a second life and still thinks about the others.

> I am happy, but I feel sad too.
## Keep digging
One Chinese worker came out alive on September 5, and there has been no sign of life since. Sah is asking the government to carry on, for survivors or for bodies to hand back to families.

> I hope the government continues its search and rescue. It is possible there might still be someone alive.
## Key takeaway

Sah got out on muddy water, chanted prayer and the sound of another trapped man's voice, and he wants the digging to continue for everyone still down there.