Doosan Enerbility to dispatch on-site response team Thursday

KOSPO says it is following emergency protocols

A home lies buried under floodwaters in Nepal on Wednesday (local time). [AFP]
A home lies buried under floodwaters in Nepal on Wednesday (local time). [AFP]

South Korean companies are scrambling to assess the situation and draw up contingency plans after workers building hydroelectric power plants in Nepal lost contact or became stranded following severe flooding.

Doosan Enerbility set up an emergency response headquarters Wednesday afternoon and began working to quickly assess the situation and manage the crisis, according to government and industry sources. The company also plans to dispatch an on-site response team, including President and CEO Jeong Yeon-in, to Nepal on Thursday.

A total of 20 South Korean employees are stationed at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric power plant construction site, where Doosan Enerbility is carrying out engineering, procurement and construction work. Of the 15 workers who were at the site when the disaster struck, five are currently unreachable.

"After the incident occurred, we promptly contacted the families of the employees who lost communication and explained the situation," a Doosan Enerbility official said. "We will make every effort to work closely with the relevant authorities and project partners to support the search and rescue of the missing."

Korea South-East Power, known as KOSPO, also moved to respond after losing contact with three of its employees at the site.

Of KOSPO's seven employees deployed to Nepal, three construction management staff at the project site are unreachable, excluding personnel at its local office in the capital, Kathmandu.

"Our overseas project division is continuously attempting to make contact and taking necessary measures in accordance with our emergency protocols," a KOSPO official said.


pink@heraldcorp.com