Emergency workers rescued a Chinese man and a Nepali woman in two separate operations on Saturday, as officials continued searching for thousands of people missing 10 days after severe floods struck Nepal.
The Nepali military announced that a joint team, including personnel from the army and South Korean disaster specialists, rescued the man from a 740ft (226-metre) tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. He was undergoing a health evaluation. Photographs showed him being evacuated by helicopter after being carried out of the tunnel.
Rescue operations have concentrated on a dozen hydropower projects across Nepal, where roughly 900 workers remain missing, with 500 believed to be trapped inside large tunnels. International rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have been searching through debris and damaged structures at the sites in efforts to locate survivors.
Two Nepali workers were rescued from another tunnel at a hydropower station along the Trishuli River on Friday.
Specialists have noted that the likelihood of finding missing individuals alive inside the tunnels is decreasing as time passes.
The 64-year-old Nepali woman was rescued from a damaged house in the town of Nuwakot. Photographs released by the Nepali army showed rescuers discovering the woman covered in mud before she was pulled to safety and airlifted to Kathmandu for medical care.
Members of Nepal’s police force applauded as she was extracted from the home, the lower half of which was buried in thick sludge.
Emergency responders have been engaged in efforts to locate survivors from the devastating floods in Nepal, which were caused by a glacial and rock collapse on 26 August. Their operations have been hindered by significant infrastructural damage caused by the floods, with more than 40 bridges having collapsed and rivers swelling unpredictably.
At least 1,375 people have died in the floods, with more than 5,000 missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency, as reported by CuriosityNews.
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