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“When I saw light, I screamed”: Chinese worker rescued after 11 days trapped in Nepal tunnel

From Clarín · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News From a news agency Ongoing story
  • Rescue teams freed Chinese worker Lu Haitao after he spent 11 days trapped in a tunnel at Nepal's Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project.
  • Haitao said he screamed whenever he saw light but eventually lost hope before a joint Nepalese and South Korean rescue operation reached him.
  • Rescuers also found 64-year-old Chandrika Shrestha alive, while floods that struck Nepal on August 26 have killed more than 1,300 people and left about 5,000 missing.

For 11 days, Lu Haitao screamed whenever he saw a flash of light inside the dark tunnel where he was trapped. He said rescuers passed near him days before they finally found him, but probably did not hear his calls.

“When I saw light, I screamed. I screamed as loudly as I could, with all my strength, but they probably did not hear me,” Haitao said from his hospital bed. The Chinese embassy in Nepal shared his account on Facebook.

When I saw light, I screamed. I screamed as loudly as I could, with all my strength, but they probably did not hear me.

· Lu HaitaoThe rescued Chinese worker described trying to attract rescuers while trapped in the tunnel.

Haitao had been working at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project in Rasuwa district when floods swept through the facility. A joint operation by the Nepalese army and a South Korean disaster-response team rescued him on Saturday.

He said that by the time rescuers reached him, he could barely react. “When they came to rescue me, even when they were right in front of me, I could not believe it. I was no longer even screaming. I felt there was no hope left and had resigned myself,” he said.

When they came to rescue me, even when they were right in front of me, I could not believe it. I was no longer even screaming. I felt there was no hope left and had resigned myself.

· Lu HaitaoHaitao described his condition when rescuers finally reached him.

Chinese authorities in Nepal called the rescue a “miracle” as military and police teams continued searching for survivors. Rescuers also found Chandrika Shrestha, 64, alive inside a house in the Betrawati market in Nuwakot after receiving reports of a voice from within. She was taken to Kathmandu, but authorities had not explained how she survived for so long without apparent access to food.

The rescues followed the recovery of two other workers on Friday after they spent 10 days trapped at a nearby power plant. Flooding that struck Nepal on August 26 has killed more than 1,300 people, while around 5,000 remain missing, many of them in tunnels and camps linked to hydropower projects in the region.

Miracle

· Chinese authorities in NepalAuthorities used the word to describe Haitao's rescue.
About this summary

Originally published by Clarín in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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