'We're in miracle country': Fresh air found for first time in inundated Nepal tunnels

Nepali authorities have found fresh air for the first time in the tunnels filled with mud and debris in last month's floods, an Australian tunnelling expert says.At least 11 hydropower projects were engulfed when a glacier collapsed into a river on the Nepal-China border on August 26, burying the entrances to the tunnels of the projects under debris and mud and trapping those inside.Arnold Dix has been redeployed to Chilime in Nepal. (Supplied: ABC News)Melbourne geologist Arnold Dix was invited to Nepal to work with rescue teams at the Chilime hydropower project in the hard-hit Rasuwa district."We think we've found a zone where people may have survived and that is just amazing," he said."This is the first time we've had fresh air, as opposed to water and mud."We can hear that it's hollow, we're calling out. It's not over."We're in miracle country."900 people suspected trapped in tunnelsA Chinese national was rescued by soldiers during an ongoing operation at the Trishuli-3A hydropower project. (AP: Nepal Army)A least 1,399 people have been confirmed dead and more than 5,400 are missing in Nepal and Tibet. At least 900 of those missing are suspected to be trapped in hydropower tunnels like those Professor Dix is working on.On Tuesday, another Australian who had been unaccounted-for was found safe. The ABC understands that the person was not in the disaster zone.The person is the eighth Australian to be found since the floods, with 35 others still unaccounted-for.Professor Dix said people trapped in the hydropower project tunnels have had to survive in pitch black for over two weeks, with only access to water."What you do is listen to your heart, you do your engineering analysis, and you go after those souls that we think could still be alive," he said.The geologist, who also assisted rescue teams at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project, previously told the ABC people could survive in the tunnels for up to 17 days. He said last week that some of the underground power stations likely withstood the immense pressure of the flash flooding. However, it remains unclear whether emergency systems activated in time or whether water and debris inundated them.Rescue workers take part in a rescue operation near the tunnel of the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project. (Nepal Prime Minister's Office/Handout via Reuters)In recent days, search teams have rescued four people, including a Chinese national who was pulled from a tunnel on Saturday.The others were two hydropower workers rescued from another tunnel on Friday and a Nepali woman pulled out from her buried house on Saturday.Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah vowed there would be no let-up in the rescue operations."We know our responsibility and its sensitivity. We are translating the humanitarian spirit of the Nepali people into practice through the search and rescue operation," he said in a social media post late on Monday.ABC/Wires