Rescuers pull Chinese worker, Nepali woman from flood wreckage alive

Rescues fuel hope more people could be found alive as Nepal’s flood death toll passes 1,331, with people missing on both sides.

Buddhist monks offer prayers on the banks of the Trishuli River for victims of the flash floods and mudslides that struck Nepal, in Devighat, Nuwakot district, September 5, 2026 [Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

Rescuers in Nepal have pulled a Chinese hydropower worker and a Nepali woman alive from the wreckage left by catastrophic flooding, as search teams continue combing the region for thousands of people still missing.

Lu Haitao was freed on Saturday from 225 metres inside a flooded tunnel at a hydropower plant in Rasuwa district, in the mountains north of the capital, Kathmandu.

list 1 of 2 Nepal rescues two workers from hydropower tunnel nine days after floods

list 2 of 2 Moment two workers are pulled alive from Nepal tunnel

Separately, 64-year-old Chandika Kumari Shrestha was dug out of her collapsed home in the neighbouring district of Nuwakot.

Both had been trapped since a glacier collapsed in the Himalayas on August 26, unleashing a torrent of water, rock and ice that swept through the valley.

Coming within hours of each other, the rescues are the third and fourth in days, and have renewed hope that more of those still unaccounted for in the region’s flooded tunnels could be found alive.

Lu was brought out by a joint team of Nepali soldiers and South Korean disaster specialists, and appeared stable though mildly hypothermic as he was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu.

Speaking afterwards to Chinese state television, he described calling out to rescue crews whenever he glimpsed their torchlight in the tunnel, only to go unheard each time, until a beam finally swept over him. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Rasuwa district, said rain on Saturday had slowed the search there, though rescue teams were continuing to push ahead.

Shrestha, found covered in mud inside her flooded house, was given water by rescuers before being airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment, officials said.

Her rescue followed that of two Nepali tunnel workers pulled alive a day earlier from a nearby hydropower site, the first survivors recovered from any of the region’s damaged plants.

More than 1,300 dead, 5,000 still missing

The disaster has now killed at least 1,331 people in Nepal and left about 5,000 people missing, including 589 foreign nationals, according to the country’s national disaster authority.

Meanwhile, officials in Tibet, the autonomous region of China across the border, have recorded 31 deaths and 531 people missing.

About 900 workers remain unaccounted for at hydropower construction sites alone, with roughly 500 of them believed to still be trapped inside tunnels across a dozen projects wrecked by the floodwaters.

The glacier collapse that triggered the disaster sent debris crashing into towns and villages built along river valleys that Nepal has relied on for hydroelectric power, destroying roads, homes and schools in an area popular with foreign trekkers and pilgrims.

Search teams from India, China, South Korea and the United States have since joined the operation, along with a 15-member Australian drone unit sent this week, after Nepal asked for outside help in a rescue effort that had relied mainly on its own forces.

One of the survivors freed from the Trishuli 3A tunnel this week told rescuers that other workers were still alive further inside, the Nepali army said, and officials say further searches are now focused on that site.

Nepal’s information and communications minister, Bikram Timilsina, said authorities remained hopeful that more people would be found alive. “We are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,” he said.

救援行动燃起了人们的希望，希望能够找到更多幸存者，尼泊尔洪灾死亡人数已超过 1331 人，洪灾两岸均有人员失踪。

2026年9月5日，尼泊尔努瓦科特县德维加特，佛教僧侣在特里苏里河岸边为遭受山洪和泥石流袭击的尼泊尔受害者祈祷。[Navesh Chitrakar/路透社]

尼泊尔救援人员从灾难性洪水造成的废墟中救出了一名中国水电站工人和一名尼泊尔妇女，搜救队仍在继续在该地区搜寻数千名失踪人员。

周六，卢海涛从首都加德满都北部山区拉苏瓦区一座水电站被淹没的隧道内 225 米深处获救。

尼泊尔在洪水过后九天从水电站隧道中救出两名工人（共两篇报道，第1篇）

列表 2/2：两名工人从尼泊尔隧道中被活着救出的瞬间

另外，64 岁的 Chandika Kumari Shrestha 在邻近的 Nuwakot 地区被从倒塌的房屋中救了出来。

自 8 月 26 日喜马拉雅山脉冰川崩塌以来，两人一直被困在山谷中。崩塌引发的洪水、岩石和冰块席卷了整个山谷。

这两次救援行动相隔仅数小时，是几天内的第三次和第四次，重新燃起了人们的希望，认为该地区被洪水淹没的隧道中仍有更多下落不明的人能够被找到并活着获救。

卢被尼泊尔士兵和韩国灾害专家组成的联合小组救出，虽然有轻微体温过低，但情况稳定，随后被直升机送往加德满都的一家医院。

事后接受中国中央电视台采访时，他描述了自己每次在隧道里瞥见救援人员的手电筒光时都呼喊求救，但每次都无人回应，直到最后一道光束照在他身上。“我简直不敢相信，”他说。

半岛电视台记者托尼·程从拉苏瓦地区报道称，周六的降雨减缓了当地的搜救工作，但救援队仍在继续推进。

官员称，救援人员在被洪水淹没的家中发现了浑身泥泞的施雷斯塔，并给她喂了水，之后用直升机将她送往加德满都接受治疗。

在她获救之前一天，两名尼泊尔隧道工人从附近的水电站被救出，他们是该地区受损电厂中首批获救的幸存者。

超过1300人死亡，5000人仍然失踪

据尼泊尔国家灾害管理局称，这场灾难目前已造成尼泊尔至少 1331 人死亡，约 5000 人失踪，其中包括 589 名外国公民。

与此同时，与中国接壤的西藏自治区官方记录显示，已有31人死亡，531人失踪。

仅在水电建设工地，就有约 900 名工人下落不明，其中约 500 人据信仍被困在十几个被洪水摧毁的项目的隧道内。

引发这场灾难的冰川崩塌导致大量碎片冲入尼泊尔赖以发展水力发电的河谷沿岸城镇和村庄，摧毁了道路、房屋和学校，而该地区深受外国徒步旅行者和朝圣者的欢迎。

此后，来自印度、中国、韩国和美国的搜救队以及本周派出的15名澳大利亚无人机小组都加入了搜救行动。此前，尼泊尔的救援工作主要依靠本国军队，并请求外部援助。

尼泊尔军方表示，本周从特里苏里3A隧道获救的一名幸存者告诉救援人员，还有其他工人在隧道深处仍然活着，官员们表示，目前搜救工作正集中于该地点。

尼泊尔信息和通信部长比克拉姆·蒂米尔西纳表示，当局仍然抱有希望，相信会找到更多幸存者。“我们正在等待越来越多的人获救，”他说。