Two people rescued alive in Nepal after eleven days trapped by floods

A Chinese citizen trapped in the tunnel of a hydroelectric plant and a 64-year-old woman buried in mud in a house were rescued alive this Saturday in Nepal, on the eleventh day after the devastating floods, two discoveries that keep hopes open of finding more survivors.

Chandrika Shrestha, 64, was located in a house in Betrawati market in Nuwakot after teams received information that a voice could be heard coming from inside the house, according to local media.

In the images released by the authorities, Shrestha appears conscious, sitting on a thick layer of mud within a small space, with barely any distance between the accumulated sediments and the ceiling, while several rescuers reach her through an opening in the house.

The woman was rescued by a Nepal Armed Police team led by Inspector Suman BK and taken for first aid before being evacuated to Kathmandu, the prime minister's office said.

The authorities have not yet explained how she managed to survive for so many days trapped in the house or if she had access to water or food.

Hours earlier, a Chinese citizen was extracted alive from the Audit-4 tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric plant, in Rasuwa, in a joint operation by the Nepalese Army and a South Korean team of disaster specialists.

After his release, the man was taken to the Maithil military barracks in Trishuli for emergency medical care.

Upper Trishuli-1, a 216-megawatt hydroelectric plant still under construction, is one of the places where the search for the missing is concentrated. Six unidentified bodies were recovered on Friday in the project area and hundreds of workers remain unaccounted for.

The two discoveries this Saturday are in addition to the rescue on Friday of two other workers who remained trapped for ten days in a gallery of the nearby Trishuli 3A hydroelectric plant. One of them remains in critical condition due to severe hypothermia and exhaustion, while his partner is stable.

The four rescues in just 24 hours have renewed the hopes of the teams that continue to search for survivors among the mud, rubble and tunnels of the hydroelectric projects devastated by the flood.

Nearly 8,000 members of the security forces are participating in operations that are trying to find the whereabouts of more than five thousand people and have left more than 1,300 lifeless bodies.