Korean Rescue Team Saves Chinese Survivor in Nepal and Continues Search for Another Person

The discovery of a Chinese survivor inside a mud-filled tunnel in Nepal has given rescuers fresh reason to continue searching for nine South Koreans who remain out of contact.

A joint team from South Korea’s Korea Disaster Relief Team and the Nepalese Army rescued Chinese national Lu Haitao at about 1:15 p.m. on Aug. 5. They found him 225 meters inside a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant construction site in Rasuwa, in central-northern Nepal. Lu told the rescuers that another person had been near him, although he did not know whether that person was alive.

“

Whenever I saw the rescuers’ lights in the distance, I shouted as hard as I could.

The rescue came 10 days after landslides and major flooding struck Nepal on July 26. The tunnel was the same site where the nine South Koreans had been working. After consulting with the Nepalese Army, the Korean team planned to carry out additional search and rescue operations there on Aug. 6.

“

When the rescuers came today and found me, I really could not believe it.

Footage released by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry showed rescuers crawling through mud and wading through water reaching roughly waist height as they searched the dark tunnel. A military helicopter took Lu to a hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition. “Whenever I saw the rescuers’ lights in the distance, I shouted as hard as I could,” Lu said, according to China Central Television. “When the rescuers came today and found me, I really could not believe it.”

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Dai Qingli posted that one Chinese citizen had been safely rescued by Korean and Nepalese teams and expressed deep thanks and respect to both countries’ rescuers. Earlier that day, the Korean team found one body, then returned with three additional rescuers and saved Lu. It later recovered two more bodies. The team had previously rescued eight people after the 2023 earthquake in Turkey.

“

We will do our best.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun arrived in Kathmandu on Aug. 5 and planned to remain in Nepal until Aug. 7. He was due to meet Nepalese Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal, families of the missing South Koreans and the Korean rescue team. Cho said he would discuss managing the flood disaster, future reconstruction cooperation and efforts to support the search. “We will do our best,” he told Korean reporters. “We promise to carry out rescue operations as quickly as possible so that those out of contact can survive.”

“

We promise to carry out rescue operations as quickly as possible so that those out of contact can survive.