In a video released by the Nepalese army, one man, Sanjay Shah, is seen being pulled out of a narrow, dark tunnel entrance. In the clip, he is heard asking rescue workers what date it is. He then tells how he helped others escape the floodwaters - until there was no more time to save himself.
It was my responsibility to save everyone's lives, he says, according to CNN, adding that there are likely more people still trapped.
I don't think everyone made it out. The tunnel is so long.
Found the opening
Videos then show a second man, Kabir Maharjan, being carried away on a stretcher - covered in mud and with his hands clasped in prayer. Both men have now been flown to Kathmandu for treatment.
"I am so happy," Kabir Maharjan's brother told the AFP news agency.
The men - two of several hundred hydroelectric workers missing since the disaster on August 26 - are said to have been trapped 170 metres inside the tunnel. Early Friday, rescue workers digging their way to the tunnel's opening thought they heard voices, and just hours later Shah and Maharjan were found.
Thousands missing
Now, hope has been raised that more people will be saved.
"We are waiting for more people to be rescued," Nepal's Minister of Communications Bikram Timilsina wrote on Facebook.
Villages, roads, bridges and at least a dozen hydroelectric projects were buried in mud and debris when a huge mass of rock and ice collapsed in the Himalayas, near the Nepal-Tibet border, sending a powerful wave downstream through the Bhote Koshi River.
Around 1,300 people have been confirmed dead and over 5,000 are missing. Among the missing are more than 800 foreign tourists and pilgrims.
