Two hydropower workers have been pulled from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal, more than a week after catastrophic flooding swept through the area, government ministers said.

Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled from a muddy opening, video released by the energy ministry showed.

He was helped to his feet by rescuers.

A photograph showed the second man covered in mud, his hands pressed together in prayer, as rescuers carried him away on an orange stretcher.

The men were identified as 30-year-old Sanjay Shah, a mechanical foreman, and 45-year-old Kabir Maharjan, a mechanical supervisor, by Home Minister Sudan Gurung.

“I am so happy, my heart is lighter,” Amir Maharjan, the brother of rescued worker Kabir Maharjan, told AFP.

The two are among hundreds of hydropower workers missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on 26 August.

Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha confirmed that one person had been safely rescued from the Trishuli 3A tunnel, followed shortly afterwards by a second.

“We have just received news that another person … has also been rescued,” Mr Gurung said in a statement.

The government had initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive inside multiple tunnels.

Searches are continuing at Trishuli 3A and other sites.

Rescue teams in Nepal have recovered more than 1,250 bodies, and more than 5,000 are missing, after the gigantic wave triggered by a rock and ice avalanche moved down the China-Nepal border.

Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix, who has advised on multiple tunnel collapse rescues, has been supporting the operation remotely and is travelling to Nepal to support teams on the ground.

The rescue expert, who is also president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, said teams at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project believed they had heard a faint response from inside the tunnel.

He said rescuers had called into the tunnel: “Don’t worry, we are rescuing you.”

“They believe they received a faint response from inside saying, ‘hunchha’, yes or OK,” he told AFP, adding that he was en route to Nepal to join the rescue effort.

“Right now, I’m glass three-quarters full … After a week of 24/7 heartache, we might just be back in miracle country,” he added.

He said teams had dug through debris blocking the tunnel for 50 to 60 metres and had been hoping for a breakthrough at any moment.

Less than an hour later, rescuers pulled the two men to safety.