Site manager stays behind until all local workers are rescued

9 workers still unaccounted for

Local reports say accommodations were swept away

A view of the construction site of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant in Nepal, as introduced in a Doosan Enerbility promotional video in 2023. A massive flood struck the Himalayan mountain region in north-central Nepal on Wednesday, cutting off contact with nine Korean workers at the site and prompting the company to dispatch a response team to Nepal on Thursday. [Yonhap]
A view of the construction site of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant in Nepal, as introduced in a Doosan Enerbility promotional video in 2023. A massive flood struck the Himalayan mountain region in north-central Nepal on Wednesday, cutting off contact with nine Korean workers at the site and prompting the company to dispatch a response team to Nepal on Thursday. [Yonhap]

Nine of the 10 Korean nationals stranded by unprecedented flooding in Nepal have been moved to safety, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Thursday. However, the whereabouts of nine other Korean workers — affiliated with Doosan Enerbility and Korea South-East Power (KOEN) — remain unknown.

According to the ministry, a Nepalese military helicopter airlifted the nine Doosan Enerbility workers — stranded since Wednesday — to a safe area at around 5 p.m. Thursday. They are scheduled to travel to Kathmandu on Friday. The remaining person, a Doosan Enerbility site manager, chose to stay behind, saying he would not leave until all local workers had been rescued.

The 10 stranded workers had been at a location primarily used by local employees for work and lodging. The ministry said sufficient water and food supplies were available at the site, so the group had no major difficulties during the period they were cut off.

The ministry said it first learned at around 9 a.m. Wednesday (local time) from Doosan Enerbility that five Korean employees had lost contact. Later that afternoon, at around 1 p.m., three Korean employees from KOEN were also confirmed to be unreachable. One additional person was subsequently added to the list, bringing the total number of uncontacted workers to nine.

The nine are believed to have been in an area where Korean workers' offices and accommodations were concentrated — an area that sustained direct flood damage. The ministry said local reports indicated that accommodations and other structures had been swept away.

Nepalese military and police are conducting search operations on the ground, the ministry said. However, the rugged mountainous terrain is making nighttime searches difficult. The ministry said it is in daily contact with the families of the missing workers to update them on search-and-rescue progress and the government's response.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun spoke by phone Thursday with Nepalese Foreign Minister Sishir Khanal, urging the Nepalese government to give special attention and support to ensure the swift and safe search and rescue of South Korean nationals.

The government dispatched a joint rapid-response team of 11 personnel — drawn from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean National Police Agency and the National Fire Agency — to Nepal on Thursday. The team is expected to arrive in Kathmandu that night, local time.


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