KOEN helicopter conducts first search flight; Doosan Enerbility awaiting clearance

Search focused on high-altitude areas near site per evacuation manual

Downstream areas of Trishuli River also under consideration in worst-case scenario

9 additional government rapid-response team members to be dispatched

[AP/Newsis]
[AP/Newsis]

Search operations are intensifying for nine South Koreans missing after catastrophic flooding in Nepal, with response teams from Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility deploying helicopters and drones to scour high-altitude areas near the disaster site where the missing workers are believed to have taken refuge.

According to government authorities and corporate response teams on Saturday, a helicopter chartered by KOEN received approval from Nepal's military on Friday and conducted the first aerial search over the flood-stricken area.

Nepali authorities had strictly restricted helicopter operations, citing concerns about secondary flooding, but granted KOEN's helicopter clearance just before sunset on Friday. The initial search did not locate any of the missing workers.

Doosan Enerbility chartered two helicopters and prepared to fly on Friday but could not conduct a search after failing to receive clearance. The government's rapid-response team was also grounded.

On Saturday, Doosan Enerbility plans to fly one helicopter once Nepali authorities grant approval. Drones will be deployed alongside the helicopter to search areas where the missing workers may have sought shelter.

The on-site response teams believe the missing employees were at the base camp when the disaster struck. They are working on the assumption that the workers fled into the mountains, as the site's emergency manual instructs personnel to move to higher ground in an emergency.

"The evacuation manual calls for moving to higher ground on the mountain side, so once the helicopter is airborne we plan to conduct a detailed search of that area," a corporate response team official said.

In a worst-case scenario, teams are also considering searching both upstream and downstream along the Trishuli River simultaneously, in case any of the missing were swept away by the floodwaters.

The nine South Koreans who have lost contact include six Doosan Enerbility employees and three from KOEN, all of whom were working at a hydroelectric power plant construction site in Nepal.

Ten South Korean Doosan Enerbility workers who had been stranded since Wednesday after floodwaters washed out surrounding roads have all been moved to safety.

Nine of them escaped the isolated area first, while the site manager and 15 local employees who had remained behind were evacuated to safety on Friday.

The government announced Saturday that it would dispatch an additional joint rapid-response team to Nepal, comprising one official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eight from the National Fire Agency.


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