Chinese worker rescued after 10 days trapped in Nepal tunnel

Ten days after catastrophic flash floods tore through Nepal’s mountains, rescuers pulled a Chinese worker from a mud-filled hydropower tunnel , a rare moment of relief amid a disaster that has killed more than 1,300 people and left thousands unaccounted for.

Search efforts and public alert

The flash floods struck Nepal and China’s Tibet region on Aug. 26, likely after a glacier collapse.

Nepal’s disaster management agency said nearly 4,900 people remain missing.

Earlier in the response, authorities reported more than 3,700 people had been rescued in Nepal.

On the Tibet side of the border, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported 43 deaths and 519 people missing as of Saturday evening.

CCTV said 261 of those missing were foreigners.

Rescue operations have focused in part on hydropower sites in Nepal’s Rasuwa district and the devastated Gyirong border crossing in Tibet.

Authorities previously believed more than 100 people could be trapped inside a mud-filled tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project.