Nepal: Chinese national found alive after 10 days in tunnel; searches continue for hundreds of missing people

Nepalese authorities announced on Saturday that a Chinese national who had been trapped in a tunnel for 10 days had been rescued alive.

According to Nepal’s army, Lu Haitao was pulled from a tunnel approximately 225 metres long belonging to the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. He is the third person to be rescued alive from tunnels hit by the disaster, where authorities estimate that around 900 people may still be trapped.

The disaster began on 26 August, when a massive mass of ice, rocks and mud collapsed onto the upper section of a valley in the Himalayas. The resulting floods devastated areas near the border with China’s Tibet, including homes, roads and other facilities.

Two other people were rescued alive on Friday from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower plant, along the same river. Authorities said Lu Haitao had no visible injuries and that his vital signs were stable, although he showed signs of mild hypothermia.

In footage released by the Nepalese army, Lu can be seen receiving first aid inside a helicopter before being taken to a military hospital. He appeared tired and confused, with his face and clothes covered in mud and dust, while a military doctor checked his condition with a stethoscope.

The floods have caused at least 1,344 deaths in towns and villages near the border with Tibet, according to Nepalese authorities. Around 4,887 people are still listed as missing, including 583 foreign nationals, many of whom were pilgrims and tourists in the mountainous area.

In Tibet, on the Chinese side of the border, 31 deaths and 531 missing people have been reported. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that 261 of those missing were foreign nationals, while search-and-rescue operations continue in the affected areas.

Also on Saturday, the Nepalese army announced the rescue of Chandika Kumari Shrestha from her home in Betrawati. She was found inside a flooded underground structure, covered in mud, while rescue teams provided her with water and assistance in a narrow space filled with sludge.

At a military barracks in Nuwakot district, relatives of the missing have put up photographs and posters of family members who are believed to remain trapped in tunnels.

Among the photographs is one of Ishwor Poudel, the brother of 34-year-old Krishna Poudel, who had worked for three years in the tunnel of the Hakubesi hydroelectric project. Krishna said he last spoke to his brother on 26 August, shortly after the floods had engulfed the valley.

“I spoke to him at around 7:30 in the morning, before he entered the tunnel to work. At around 11:30, after the floodwaters arrived, I managed to contact him and he told me: ‘I’m trapped inside the tunnel,’” he recounted.

The family has been unable to communicate with him since that day but continues to hope that he is alive. People who survived the incident and emerged from the same tunnel told the family that they had seen Ishwor inside it.

“They told me: ‘Your brother is inside the tunnel; he was driving a vehicle.’ They said the voices of around 200 to 300 people shouting from inside could be heard,” Krishna said.