Rescuers in Nepal pulled a Chinese national alive from a hydropower tunnel and rescued a woman from a mud-covered house on Saturday, September 5, 2026. These operations occurred 10 days after devastating floods and mudslides struck the Himalayan region, leaving more than 1,300 people dead and thousands missing.
Ten days after a massive glacier collapse sent a wall of ice, rock, and mud roaring through Himalayan valleys, rescue operations in Nepal have yielded rare moments of survival. Authorities reported Saturday that joint teams of military personnel and disaster experts successfully extracted survivors from debris and underground infrastructure, offering a measure of hope to families searching for thousands of unaccounted-for residents.
Rescue Inside the Trishuli Hydropower Project Tunnel
The latest major operation unfolded at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project in Rasuwa, where a Chinese national was pulled alive from a tunnel on Saturday, September 5, 2026. According to Nepal’s army, a joint rescue team consisting of Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts navigated the 225-meter underground passage to reach him.
Footage shared by the Nepali army showed the survivor, identified in reports as Luhaitao, appearing exhausted and disoriented with dried mud and dust covering his skin and clothing. A uniformed medic with a stethoscope examined his vitals inside a rescue helicopter before airlifting him to an army hospital for further medical evaluation. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV released imagery showing two rescuers carrying the man out of the dark opening.
This extraction follows a breakthrough on Friday, when rescue workers pulled two Nepalese hydropower workers alive from a tunnel at the nearby Trishuli 3A plant. Search teams had intensified their efforts after hearing voices echoing from inside the subterranean structure earlier that morning. Officials identified those two survivors as a mechanical foreman and a mechanical supervisor, noting that one was in critical condition upon discovery.
“I can’t explain what we are feeling at the moment. We are just grateful to god.”
Amir Maharjan, brother of one of the rescued workers
Authorities note that approximately 900 workers remain missing from 12 hydropower projects across Nepal, with roughly 500 believed to be trapped inside various tunnels. Independent power producer associations estimated that about 115 individuals alone were trapped inside the Trishuli 3A tunnel complex.
Separate Survival Discovery in Nuwakot Town
In a separate operation on Saturday, Nepal’s army spokesperson reported the rescue of a woman alive from a house in Nuwakot town, one of the areas badly affected by the floods. Army personnel discovered her covered in mud, provided her with bottled water, and wrapped her in a gray blanket before preparing her for an emergency medical evacuation to Kathmandu.
The simultaneous discoveries on Saturday provided a stark contrast to the grim totals compiled by the nation’s disaster management agency. The catastrophic August 26 floods, triggered by a glacier collapse in the upper reaches of Himalayan river valleys, have resulted in at least 1,300 people being killed, while more than 5,000 people remain missing.
Scale of Destruction and Ongoing Recovery Operations
The disaster’s economic and structural toll continues to mount alongside the human cost. Nepal’s disaster agency estimated Friday that the flooding caused at least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.5 billion) in damage to infrastructure and property. Across the northern border in Tibet, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported 31 fatalities and 531 missing persons.
With heavy equipment working to clear tons of silt, rock, and twisted metal from destroyed settlements and blocked river paths, officials emphasize that search efforts will press forward. Communication Minister Bikram Timilsina shared on social media that officials are waiting for the rescue of more and more people,
as multinational teams continue combing through debris fields and flooded infrastructure in a race against time.