Ten days after catastrophic floods devastated Nepal, emergency responders pulled two more survivors—a Chinese man and a Nepalese woman—alive from the debris in separate rescue operations on Saturday. The successful extractions provide a glimmer of hope as search teams continue to hunt for thousands of people who remain missing across the country.
The rescued man, identified as Lu Haitao, was freed from a 225-meter (about 740-foot) tunnel at the Trishuli-3A hydropower project in Nepal's Rasuwa district. A joint rescue operation comprising Nepalese military personnel and disaster experts from South Korea located and extracted him from the deep shaft. Following his rescue, Lu was evacuated by helicopter, with military images showing an army medic checking his vital signs during the flight. He was subsequently admitted to a hospital, where Chinese state media reported he was in stable condition.
Lu's survival marks the third successful rescue from the Trishuli hydropower project, following the recovery of two Nepalese workers on Friday. A photo released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed two rescuers carrying Lu out of the darkened tunnel. CCTV also broadcast audio of Lu describing his experience while trapped. He recounted shouting repeatedly whenever he saw the flashlights of search crews, though his cries could not be heard over the distance. "When they rescued me today, when they shone the light before my eyes, I couldn’t believe it," Lu said of the moment he was found.
In a separate operation on Saturday, rescuers in the flood-ravaged town of Nuwakot pulled a woman alive from a damaged residential building. Images released by the Nepal Army depicted rescuers finding the woman covered in mud inside her ruined home. Responders provided her with bottled water before wrapping her in a gray blanket and carrying her out of the structure. A spokesperson for the Nepal Army confirmed that she was airlifted to the capital city of Kathmandu for medical treatment.
These rescues occurred against the backdrop of a massive humanitarian disaster. At least 1,300 people were killed in the August 26 floods, which disaster officials believe were triggered by a glacier collapse. More than 5,000 people remain missing, according to Nepal's disaster management agency. Search and rescue efforts have increasingly focused on 12 hydropower projects across the country, where approximately 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped inside various tunnels. Specialized international rescue teams from India, China, South Korea, and the United States have joined Nepalese forces, scouring through mud, debris, and damaged infrastructure in hopes of finding more survivors.
