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“Whenever I saw light, I screamed”: Chinese survivor rescued after 11 days in Nepal

From Cooperativa · () Spanish

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

At a glance

In-depth Official statement Outcome reported
  • Chinese worker Lu Haitao survived 11 days trapped inside a flood-damaged hydropower tunnel in Nepal before rescuers freed him alive on Saturday.
  • He said he shouted whenever he saw light, but exhaustion eventually left him convinced that there was no hope.
  • Haitao gave his first account from a medical center in statements shared by China’s embassy in Nepal.

“Whenever I saw light, I screamed. I screamed as loudly as I could, with all my strength, but they probably did not hear me,” Lu Haitao said after surviving 11 days trapped in a hydropower tunnel devastated by flooding in Nepal.

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

· Lu HaitaoDescribing his attempts to attract rescuers’ attention while trapped in the tunnel.

The Chinese worker spoke from the bed of a medical center in his first statements after his rescue on Saturday. China’s embassy in Nepal shared his account on Facebook.

Haitao said emergency teams had passed close to his position several days earlier, but probably failed to hear him. “I was unlucky,” he said. He tried to make himself heard whenever he saw a glimmer in the darkness of the tunnel, but the passing days and exhaustion wore down his strength.

I was unlucky.

· Lu HaitaoExplaining why emergency teams may not have heard him when they passed nearby.

“When they came to rescue me, even when they were right in front of me, I could not believe it,” Haitao said. By then, he had stopped shouting and felt that no hope remained.

When they came to rescue me, even when they were right in front of me, I could not believe it.

· Lu HaitaoRecalling the moment rescuers reached him after 11 days underground.
About this summary

Originally published by Cooperativa 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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