A man buried deep inside a hydropower tunnel after Nepal’s devastating floods has been pulled out alive, the Nepali Army said — a rare survival in a disaster that has left hundreds unaccounted for.
The Nepali army said Lu Haitao, a Chinese national, was rescued from inside a 225-meter tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project.
Authorities said he had no visible injuries and his vitals were stable, but showed signs of mild hypothermia.
Footage shared by the Nepali army showed him receiving emergency medical care inside a helicopter, which flew him to an army hospital.
In the video, he appeared exhausted and disoriented, with dried mud and dust coating his skin and clothing. A uniformed medic with a stethoscope was seen examining him.
Authorities say the wider toll remains daunting: about 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in various tunnels.
They have been missing since a wall of mud and debris tore through the region on 26 August, triggered by a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border.
Lu’s rescue was the latest in a string of breakthroughs after two hydropower workers were also pulled alive from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal yesterday.
One of the men pressed his hands together in prayer as rescuers brought him away on a stretcher
Chinese state media reported yesterday that 31 people were killed in Tibet and 541 missing, taking the total toll from the 26 August glacial and mountain collapse to 1,318 dead and 5,624 missing.
Rescuers cheered as one man emerged through a muddy opening in yesterday’s rescue, according to video released by the energy ministry.
He was helped to his feet by rescuers, then carried on the backs of emergency workers, raising his hand as they moved him toward a helicopter.
Nepali rescuers — supported by experts from India, China and South Korea — have continued searching for survivors feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels, but teams have repeatedly been halted by walls of hard-packed debris.
A helicopter prepares to carry materials for rescue efforts at the army barracks at Dunche in Rasuwa district in Nepal yesterday
Until yesterday, none of the tunnel workers had been confirmed alive.
Elsewhere, a Nepal army spokesperson said rescuers pulled a woman alive from a house in Nuwakot town 10 days after floods struck.
The woman was airlifted to Kathmandu.
Additional reporting by PA
