The wife of a man rescued from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal on Friday said her husband had been given “a second life” and thanked the rescuers who risked their lives to save him.

Kabir Maharjan of Kathmandu was pulled alive from the tunnel of the Trishuli 3A hydropower project on the 10th day since the devastating Bhotekoshi flood left him trapped underground.

“He has returned with a second life. We are extremely happy,” his wife, Hira Shobha, told Kantipur. “We had been waiting. I am now going to the hospital to see my husband.”

She said the days had been an extremely painful and difficult time for her and her family.

“It was so difficult to get through those days. It wasn’t one day or two days. We could neither eat nor sleep,” she said. “We believed he was still in there. We believed he would come back. We suffered because it took a little longer.”

She thanked everyone involved in the rescue operation.

“It seems it takes a long time to carry out a rescue like this. They risked their own lives to save him,” she said. “My heartfelt thanks to the entire rescue team.”

According to Hira Shobha, Maharjan had worked at the Trishuli 3A project for seven years. She last spoke to him at around 7:30am on Wednesday, shortly before the devastating flood struck the Bhotekoshi river.

Maharjan and Sanjay Sah, who had also been trapped inside the tunnel, were rescued Friday morning by the Nepali Army and Armed Police Force with assistance from foreign rescue teams.