Nepal tunnel rescue revives hopes 10 days after floods

A Chinese hydropower worker was pulled alive from a tunnel in Nepal on Saturday, 10 days after a wall of water and mud swept across the China-Nepal border. Rescuers found him 225 metres inside the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Rasuwa district.

The Nepal Army identified the survivor as Luhaitao. Photographs showed him alert, with his arms around two rescuers and thick mud covering his hands. The army said medical staff were assessing his health while search and rescue operations continued.

Luhaitao was among hundreds of hydropower workers who disappeared after a vast glacial and rock collapse on Aug. 26 triggered the tsunami-like flood. Two Nepalese workers were also rescued on Friday from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A project. At least 12 hydropower projects were destroyed by the floods.

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His health is currently being assessed and further search and rescue operations are continuing.

Nepal's national disaster agency said 1,344 bodies had been recovered and about 5,000 people remained missing. Chinese state media reported 31 deaths and 531 missing people in China, bringing the combined toll cited in the report to 1,375 dead and more than 5,500 missing.

Nepalese rescuers are working with experts from India, China, Australia and South Korea. Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said work was continuing in the tunnels to look for survivors. The government had initially estimated that more than 100 workers might still be alive inside several blocked tunnels.

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Work is underway at the tunnels.