Nepali woman, Chinese national rescued 11 days after devastating floods

A Nepali woman and a Chinese national were rescued alive from separate flood-hit locations in Nepal on Saturday, 11 days after catastrophic flooding swept through areas along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Chandrika Shrestha, 64, was found unconscious at the residence of Anand Shrestha in Betrawati Bazaar, one of the affected areas in Nuwakot district. A team from Nepal’s Armed Police Force, led by Inspector Suman Bik, carried out the rescue.

Shrestha, a resident of Bidur Municipality-10, was airlifted to the Nepali Army’s Maithili Barracks in Trishuli. She received initial medical treatment and may be transferred to Kathmandu if further care is required, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

In a separate operation, rescuers reached a Chinese national trapped inside a tunnel at the flood-damaged, 216-MW Upper Trishuli 1 Hydropower Project in Rasuwa district.

The Nepali Army, working with a South Korean disaster-response team, rescued the survivor from Audit 4 of the project’s tunnel. The individual was subsequently taken to the Maithili Barracks for medical examination and treatment.

The two rescues came as authorities intensified efforts to locate and evacuate people feared trapped inside tunnels at hydropower facilities affected by the floods. Several power projects and other infrastructure along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli corridors have sustained extensive damage, while hundreds of workers remain unreachable.

According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal, 936 people employed across 11 affected hydropower projects in Rasuwa and Nuwakot remained out of contact as of Friday evening. The Upper Trishuli 1 project accounted for 551 of them, the highest number reported by any of the facilities.

On Friday, the Nepali Army rescued two Nepali nationals who had been trapped inside a tunnel at the 60-MW Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project in Nuwakot.

Search and rescue operations are continuing with support from international technical teams, including specialists from India, China and South Korea, as responders attempt to reach people stranded within underground sections of several hydropower projects.

With IANS inputs