Rescuers in Nepal have found a man and a woman alive ten days after devastating floods swept through the country, but approximately 500 people are still believed to be trapped in blocked hydropower project tunnels.
The flood, which occurred on Wednesday, was caused by a massive deluge of ice, rock, mud, and debris along the Nepal-Tibet border, attributed to a glacier collapse. The disaster has claimed at least 1,300 lives, with an estimated 5,000 people still missing.
On Saturday, officials confirmed that a Chinese national had been rescued from one of the tunnels, bringing the total number of people pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project to three. Two Nepalese workers were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday.
A joint rescue team, comprising Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts, successfully extracted the Chinese national from a 225-meter tunnel. He is currently undergoing a health assessment. Images show him being evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic attending to him during the flight.
Separately, in the flood-affected town of Nuwakot, a woman was rescued alive from a house, according to a spokesperson for Nepal's army. She is being airlifted to Kathmandu. Images released by the army show rescuers finding the woman covered in mud. They provided her with bottled water before pulling her to safety, wrapped in a grey blanket.
Nepali officials stated that their immediate priority is to reach the hundreds of workers believed to be trapped inside approximately six to eight hydropower project tunnels blocked by mud and rock debris. Rescue teams have been seen using earth-moving equipment to clear the obstructions, working through the night under lights. Teams are also attempting to send air through small openings into the blocked tunnels.
The two hydropower workers rescued on Friday were identified as Sanjay Shah, 30, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, 45, a mechanical supervisor. They are receiving medical treatment, and search and rescue operations are continuing.
According to Kulman Ghising, former head of several hydropower projects who returned to the scene to coordinate rescue efforts, the survival of the trapped workers depends on the conditions inside the tunnels, including the availability of oxygen and food. He noted that in at least one tunnel that was accessed, the conditions were dire, with the space filled with water and mud. Ghising described the situation as a "desperate race against time" to find the missing people, emphasizing that the entire area has been devastated, with many villages and projects destroyed.
