Nepal search and rescue mission enters 12th day - as hopes remain over further miracles after woman, 64, is found alive in mud-buried home

The Nepalese search-and-rescue mission has entered its 12th day – as hopes remain over further miracles after a 64-year-old woman was found alive in a mud-buried home. The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border almost two weeks ago – blamed on a glacier collapse – has killed at least 1,300 people with around 5,000 still missing.And hundreds of people are stuck inside blocked hydropower project tunnels in the aftermath. Rescuers found two more people alive on Saturday, joining two saved the day before in what have been described as miraculous tales of survival. Officials said on Saturday that a Chinese national had been rescued from the tunnels – bringing the total to three people pulled alive from the Trishuli hydropower project.Two Nepalese workers were rescued from a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower plant on Friday. The government initially said it believed more than 100 workers could be alive in the hydropower tunnels. Nepal's army said a joint rescue team of Nepalese military personnel and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a 225-metre tunnel (738ft) and that he was undergoing a health assessment. In flood-hit Nuwakot town a woman was rescued alive from a house, Nepal's army spokesperson said today Nepal Police officers assist Chandika Kumari Shrestha after she was rescued alive from a damaged house following deadly flash floods An excavator clears mud and debris in a village following the floods almost two weeks ago 'Search and rescue is going on at the tunnels despite geography, adverse weather and lack of connectivity,' said Energy Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha.He added that rescue workers were experiencing 'multiple challenges'. The wall of icy water and debris tore through mountain districts on August 26, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.Also on Saturday, rescuers pulled out a 64-year-old Nepali woman, Chandrika Shrestha, from her mud-covered home. 'The four-storey house was swept [away] by the floods and the house was left in the middle of a quicksand. While walking around it, we heard a voice "save me",' police officer Mahendra Darnal said.In a rescue operation on Saturday lasting 45 minutes, Mr Darnal and his team found Shrestha in a confined space and sent her to an army hospital.'I was in touch with the family and they had started the 11-day mourning period,' Mr Darnal said.Images released by Nepal's army showed rescuers finding the woman covered in mud. Rescue workers conduct search and rescue operations at the core disaster-hit area at Gyirong Port Pictures show rescuers carrying a Chinese national (centre) found in the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project He was evacuated by helicopter, with an army medic checking on him during the flightThey gave her bottled water before pulling her to safety, wrapped in a grey blanket.Ms Shrestha was among the hundreds missing in Betrawati, an area among the hardest hit by the floods in Nepal and engulfed with white deposits compacted almost like concrete. Crews continue to recover scores of dead bodies. The town's market and most residential buildings, some as tall as four storeys, were almost completely buried under debris left by a torrent that swept through the valley. But Prime Minister Balendra Shah said her rescue had 'given hope to the entire nation'. Other examples of remarkable fortitude have emerged from Nepal, including Rajendra Dawadi, a school principal who quickly ordered an evacuation as the torrent approached, saving hundreds of students' lives.'If the information was wrong, we would lose a day of schooling,' he said. 'But if it was true, we were going to lose our lives.'Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal called the disaster a 'Himalayan tsunami' and has warned reconstruction costs could run into the billions of dollars. The United Nations has said the magnitude of the destruction makes delivering aid an immense challenge, and has launched a $50million (£37million) appeal to help more than 84,000 people. Dramatic photos showed about a dozen rescuers pulling a man from a small hole in the ground on Friday Rescue crews are seen carrying one of the freed power plant workers to safetyBodies have piled up in mass graves as mortuaries have overflowed due to the sheer number of corpses.DNA samples were taken before burial for future identification, according to the local police. Only around 100 bodies have been identified and handed over to families.Nepal will hold a national day of mourning on Monday, the 13th day since the disaster, in line with a traditional period of mourning in Hindu rituals.In Nepal, rescuers have retrieved 1,341 bodies, while around 4,996 people remain missing, according to the disaster agency.The death toll from the disaster in Tibet has risen from 31 to 43, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.A further 519 people are missing, it said. Experts have also warned that cholera could spread as a result of all the damage caused by the floods. Lila Pieters Yahia, a United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nepal, said: 'We may have risk of cholera, so this is why immediately we have to invest in sanitation and hygiene.'She added that 5,000 cattle had died in the flooding. 'My plea to the international community is: this is the time to help Nepal. It's not tomorrow and it's not yesterday,' she said. 'We can't leave them there. We can't leave them alone.'