"Another Person Nearby": Survivor Testifies as Tunnel Search Resumes

[Anchor]

A Chinese survivor who was rescued by our rescue team in Nepal yesterday (the 5th) after 10 days has stated that there was another person inside the hydroelectric power plant tunnel near where he was. Our Korea Disaster Relief Team operating locally has re-entered the tunnel to resume search and rescue operations.

Reporting from reporter Kim Minpyo.

[Reporter]

Members of the Korea Disaster Relief Team discover a survivor inside a hydroelectric power plant tunnel turned into a mudfield.

[Korea Disaster Relief Team Member: Are you okay? Are you okay? Survivor!]

The survivor was found 225 meters inside the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric power plant, which was under construction by a South Korean company.

This is the moment when a Chinese man who survived for 10 days behind the rebar of a massive structure inside the pitch-black tunnel was rescued.

The Chinese survivor, Lu Haitao, was transported to a hospital by a military helicopter and is recovering his health.

[Lu Haitao / Chinese Survivor: I feel a bit better, but sometimes I feel dizzy and my head feels heavy.]

[Lim Palsun / Fire Captain, National 119 Rescue Headquarters: The tunnel was very deep, with an open section extending about 250 to 300 meters. With a massive amount of rocks piled up, we had to pass through a very narrow space to penetrate all the way inside to the end of the tunnel.]

At the time of his rescue, Lu pointed with his hand to the location where he had been trapped inside the tunnel and stated that there was one more person there, though their survival status was unknown.

[Korea Disaster Relief Team Member: Are there more people? (Yes.) You mean one person?]

In response, the South Korean rescue team has re-entered the tunnel alongside the Nepalese military to conduct additional search and rescue operations.

Work is also underway to recover two bodies discovered during the tunnel search yesterday.

The rescue team has expanded its search area to include the powerhouse containing turbine and power generation facilities, as well as the Yellow Bridge area, a major passageway.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun held talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, requesting support for the search operations to find the nine missing South Korean nationals and discussing cooperation measures, including future reconstruction.

(Video Editing: Park Chun-bae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.