Chinese worker, woman rescued 10 days after Nepal floods

Kathmandu: Rescuers in Nepal pulled a Chinese national and a woman alive 10 days after devastating floods hit the country, officials said Saturday.

The man was rescued from a hydropower tunnel, according to a social media post by the country’s prime minister’s office, bringing the total to three workers pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project. Two Nepalese workers were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday.

Nepal's army said a joint rescue team of Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-meter tunnel (about 738 feet) and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Images showed him being evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic checking on him during the flight.

A photo released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed two rescuers carrying the man out of the tunnel.

About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in various tunnels, authorities said.

In flood-hit Nuwakot town, a woman was rescued alive from a house, Nepal's army spokesperson said Saturday. Officials said she was being airlifted to Kathmandu.

Images showed rescuers pulling the woman from the house, wrapped in a gray blanket.

At least 1,300 people were killed in the Aug. 26 floods, which were likely caused by a glacier collapse, and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency.