Earlier on Friday, Dix, 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,” Dix 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 said.
Dix said teams had dug through debris blocking the tunnel for 50m to 60m and had been hoping for a breakthrough at any moment.
Less than an hour later, rescuers pulled the two men to safety.