"Another Person Was Nearby": Sparks of Hope Prompt Intensive Tunnel Search

[Anchor]

Following the rescue of a Chinese survivor from inside a tunnel in Nepal, our rescue team is continuing intensive search operations. No news regarding the missing South Korean nationals has been reported yet.

Reporter Jeon Hyeong-u has the details.

[Reporter]

On the 12th day since the floods struck Nepal, the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) is continuing its search operations.

The moment a member of our rescue team flashes a flashlight toward an arch-shaped structure deep inside the dark tunnel.

[Rescue Team Member: Huh? Okay? Are you okay? A survivor!]

Shouts echoing through the tunnel announce that a survivor has been found, prompting the members to move urgently.

[Give me the belt, the belt. They found a survivor.]

Located behind a dense steel reinforcement structure, the man spots the rescue team and briefly wears a faint smile, seemingly out of relief.

[Lu Haitao / Chinese Survivor (via China's CCTV report): When the rescue workers rescued me, I couldn't even scream because I couldn't believe it, even when the light shone in my eyes.]

The dramatic rescue of Chinese national Lu Haitao on the 5th, ten days after the massive flooding in Nepal, was entirely captured by the helmet-mounted cameras of the South Korean rescue workers.

The rescue site was inside the tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric power plant being constructed by a South Korean company, located 225 meters inward past a mudflat near the entrance and a waist-deep waterlogged area.

[Lim Pal-soon / Korea Disaster Relief Team Member: A tremendous amount of rocks had piled up, so we had to pass through a very narrow space to penetrate all the way inside the tunnel.]

Rescued Chinese national Mr. Lu pointed with his hand to the place where he had been trapped, stating that there was one more person there, though their survival status was unknown.

[Rescue Team Member: Are there more people? There's one more person, right?]

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

As one body was discovered during the second tunnel entry process, the South Korean rescue team handed over the remains to the Nepalese military.

With the death toll rising in the Tibet region of China, the casualties from these floods are estimated at 1,384 dead and 5,515 missing.

(Video Editing: Kim Jin-won, Photo/Video Courtesy of: Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT))
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.