Man rescued from tunnel 10 days after floods in Nepal

A Chinese man has been brought alive from a 225-meter tunnel near a hydropower project in Nepal, 10 days after sudden, devastating floods struck the border area between Nepal and Tibet.

The man, the third person rescued alive from the tunnels, appeared exhausted and disoriented in footage from the Nepali army. A medical helicopter took him for emergency treatment before transferring him to a military hospital.

Rescue authorities believe as many as 900 people could be trapped in tunnels after a glacier collapsed during the disaster, sending a tsunami-like wall of rocks, water and mud through a Himalayan valley. Six hydropower projects in Nepal have become a major focus of the rescue effort because workers are believed to be trapped at those sites.

Two other men, aged 30 and 45, were rescued from a tunnel at a hydropower project on Friday, nine days after the disaster. Reuters reported that at least 1,344 people had died in Nepal and around 4,887 remained missing, including 583 foreign nationals. Many of the missing foreigners are pilgrims and trekkers, according to the report.

China said Friday that 31 people had died in Tibet and 531 remained missing, including foreign nationals. The disaster is Nepal’s deadliest since the 2015 earthquake, which killed more than 8,000 people. In Rasuwa district, where the floods first struck, entire settlements, markets, roads and green mountain slopes have reportedly been replaced by mud, shattered rock and rubble.