Third survivor pulled alive from Nepal tunnel 10 days after deadly flood

Rescuers pulled a Chinese worker alive from a buried tunnel in northern Nepal on Saturday, 10 days after a deadly flood swept through the Himalayas. The army identified him as Luhaitao and said he was found 225 meters inside a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 dam project.

“An army team and foreign rescuers managed to bring out alive a Chinese citizen, Luhaitao, who was inside the tunnel,” the Nepalese army said in an online press group. Images showed the survivor sitting in an evacuation helicopter, covered in mud and wearing a military jacket while a doctor checked his blood pressure. The army said his condition was being assessed and that search and rescue operations were continuing.

“

An army team and foreign rescuers managed to bring out alive a Chinese citizen, Luhaitao, who was inside the tunnel.

The rescue came a day after two Nepalese workers, Sanjay Sah, 30, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, were brought out alive from another tunnel at the Trishuli-3 dam project. Sah said at least 40 or 45 people were present when the flood struck. “I could not escape alone,” he said in a video published by a Nepalese media outlet. “I told everyone to run. I did not have time to get out.”

“

I could not escape alone.

The prime minister’s office also announced the rescue of Chandrika Shrestha, a 64-year-old woman found unconscious in a house in the devastated town of Betrawati. She was flown to a hospital in Kathmandu.

Dozens of Nepalese rescuers, assisted by experts from India, China and South Korea, have been searching tunnels at hydropower and dam construction sites since the August 26 flood. The huge wave of water, ice and debris followed the collapse of a glacier and rocks near the Nepal-China border. Provisional official figures put the death toll in both countries at 1,375, with more than 5,600 people missing.

“

I told everyone to run. I did not have time to get out.