The Chinese national rescued this morning from a hydropower tunnel following the flash floods that hit the Nepal-Tibet border

Chinese national rescued from hydropower tunnel - army

· RTE.ie

A Chinese national has been rescued alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal, 10 days after catastrophic flooding, the Nepali Army said.

The Nepali army said Lu Haitao was rescued from inside a 225-meter tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project.

Authorities said he had no visible injuries and his vitals were stable, but showed signs of mild hypothermia.

Footage shared by the Nepali army showed him being given emergency medical attention inside a helicopter, which took him to an army hospital.

He appeared exhausted and disoriented, with dried mud and dust on his skin and clothing. A uniformed medic with a stethoscope was seen checking him.

About 900 workers are missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped in various tunnels, according to authorities.

They have been missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on 26 August after a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain on the Nepal-Tibet border.

The latest rescue comes as two hydropower workers were also pulled alive from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal yesterday.

One of the men pressed his hands together in prayer as rescuers brought him away on a stretcher

Chinese state media reported yesterday that 31 people were killed in Tibet and 541 missing, taking the total toll from the 26 August glacial and mountain collapse to 1,318 dead and 5,624 missing.

Rescuers cheered as one man emerged through a muddy opening in yesterday's rescue, a video released by the energy ministry showed.

He was helped to his feet by rescuers, and later carried on the backs of the emergency workers, raising his hand as they took him towards a helicopter.

Nepali rescuers, aided by experts from India, China and South Korea, have continued searching for survivors feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels, but teams had repeatedly hit walls of hard-packed debris.

A helicopter prepares to carry materials for rescue efforts at the army barracks at Dunche in Rasuwa district in Nepal yesterday

Until yesterday, none of the tunnel workers had been confirmed alive.

Meanwhile, rescuers pulled a woman alive from a house 10 days after floods hit Nuwakot town, a Nepal army spokesperson said.

The woman was airlifted to Kathmandu.

Additional reporting by PA