Nepal floods: Chinese national rescued alive from hydropower tunnel after 10 days

Rescuers in Nepal pulled a Chinese national and a Nepali woman alive on Saturday, 10 days after devastating floods struck the country, officials said, even as the death toll continued to climb and hundreds remained trapped in hydropower tunnels.

The Chinese man was rescued from a hydropower tunnel, according to a social media post by the prime minister's office, taking the total number of workers pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project to three. Two Nepali workers had earlier been rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday.

Nepal's army said a joint rescue team of Nepali military personnel and South Korean disaster experts extracted the man from a 225-metre (about 738-foot) tunnel, and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Visuals showed him being evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic monitoring him during the flight. A photo released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed two rescuers carrying the man out of the tunnel.


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In flood-hit Nuwakot town, a woman was rescued alive from a house, according to Nepal's army spokesperson. She was being airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment. Images showed rescuers carrying her out wrapped in a grey blanket.

Scale of the disaster

About 900 workers remain missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with roughly 500 believed trapped in various tunnels, authorities said. The Upper Trishuli-1 Hydroelectric Project alone accounts for at least 576 missing workers, with around 300 believed trapped inside its tunnel.

The floods, which struck Nepal's Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts on August 26, are believed to have been triggered by a glacier collapse. According to Nepal's disaster management authorities, at least 1300 people have been confirmed dead and more than 5,000 remain missing in Nepal alone.

Including the adjoining Tibet Autonomous Region of China, where the same flooding event killed at least 31 people and left 531 missing, the combined toll stands at over 1,300 dead and more than 5,600 missing.

The disaster has also claimed a heavy toll among officials and essential workers: at least 147 government officials, including elected representatives, police officers, Armed Police Force personnel and Nepal Army soldiers, remain unaccounted for, along with roughly 580 students and an estimated 300 workers from the trade and transport sector.

The floods destroyed 32 bridges and swept away nearly 25 miles of road, including the key highway linking Nuwakot's Betrawati to the Rasuwagadhi border crossing with Tibet, disrupting a vital China-Nepal trade and tourism corridor. Property damage in Nepal is estimated at over ₹200 billion (roughly $1.3 billion).

Also read: Nepal floods cause at least $2.56 billion in property, infrastructure damage

International agencies have flagged a worsening humanitarian situation: the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimates that 93,000 people have been affected, while the United Nations says around 65,000 people need emergency water, sanitation and hygiene support. UN officials have also warned that thousands of children and pregnant or breastfeeding women in the affected region require urgent nutrition assistance.

Search and rescue operations, involving Nepali security forces alongside international disaster response teams, are continuing in the worst-hit districts as authorities work to reach communities still cut off by the disaster.