Man in Nepal tunnel and woman rescued 10 days after flash flood

Rescuers in Nepal pull two people alive from the debris 10 days after devastating floods In short: Rescuers in Nepal have pulled a Chinese national from a hydropower tunnel as efforts to save an estimated 900 people from the tunnel continue. In a separate event, a woman was rescued from a damaged house in Nuwakot, Nepal. What's next? More than 5,000 people remain missing after the flood hit the Nepal-Tibet region on August 26. Rescuers in Nepal have rescued two more survivors, 10 days after devastating floods hit the country. The man and woman were freed in separate operations on Saturday, local time, with teams continuing the search for thousands of missing people. A Chinese 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 on Friday. Nepal's army said a joint rescue team of Nepali military personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-metre 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, called Lu Haitao, out of the tunnel. CCTV shared audio of Mr Lu talking to an officer, saying how he repeatedly shouted whenever he saw the rescue crews' lights, but they could not hear him. "When they rescued me today, when they shone [the light] before my eyes, I couldn't believe it,"he said. Mr Lu was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, according to CCTV. 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. Specialised 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. Woman's rescue 'has given hope to the entire nation' In flood-hit Nuwakot town, a woman named Chandika Kumari Shrestha was rescued alive from a house, Nepal's army spokesperson said Saturday. Officials said she was airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment. Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said Ms Shrestha's rescue "has given hope to the entire nation". Images released by Nepal's army showed rescuers finding the woman covered in mud inside the damaged house. They gave her bottled water before pulling her to safety, wrapped in a grey blanket. At least 1,300 people were killed in the August 26 floods — which were likely caused by a glacier collapse — and more than 5,000 remain missing, according to Nepal's disaster management agency. The United Nations has warned that the "magnitude of the destruction" makes delivering aid an immense challenge, as it launched a $US50 million ($69 million) appeal to help more than 84,000 people affected by the disaster. On Saturday, the Nepali government released a provisional damage assessment, saying more than 7,500 houses, 48 public buildings and about 100 bridges had been destroyed. With morgues overflowing, about 1,030 bodies have been buried in mass graves after having DNA samples taken for future identification, Nepal Police said on Saturday. In a sign of progress, a team was able to reach the remote Nepal-China international border crossing at Timure in Rasuwa district on Saturday. They placed Nepal's flag at the location, the prime minister said. "After three days of continuous efforts, Nepal's national flag has been reinstalled along the Nepali border," he said on Facebook. "It was extremely difficult to identify the border from the Nepali side and erect the flag." AP/AFP