Two people were rescued in separate operations in Nepal, 10 days after the devastating floods hit the country, officials said Saturday.
A man was rescued from a hydropower tunnel, according to a social media post by the country’s prime minister’s office, bringing the total to three workers pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project. Two Nepalese workers were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday.
Nepal’s army said a joint rescue team of Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from 738-foot tunnel and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Images showed him being evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic checking on him during the flight.
A photo released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed two rescuers carrying the man out of the tunnel.
Rescue efforts have increasingly focused on 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, where about 900 workers are missing and roughly 500 are believed to be trapped in various tunnels, authorities said. Specialized rescue teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have been searching through debris, damaged structures and tunnels at the projects, hoping to find survivors.
In flood-hit Nuwakot town, a woman was rescued alive from a house, Nepal’s army spokesperson said Saturday. Officials said she was being airlifted to Kathmandu.
Images released by Nepal’s army showed rescuers finding the woman covered in mud. They gave her bottled water before pulling her to safety, wrapped in a gray blanket.
At least 1,300 people were killed in the Aug. 26 floods, which were likely caused by a glacier collapse, and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency.