A road leading to a hydropower plant under construction by Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility in Bidur, Nepal, is blocked by debris and sediment from flooding on Saturday. [Yonhap]
A road leading to a hydropower plant under construction by Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility in Bidur, Nepal, is blocked by debris and sediment from flooding on Saturday. [Yonhap]

China has dispatched tunnel experts to Nepal to assist rescue operations at sites devastated by severe flooding.

China's Ministry of Emergency Management said Saturday it sent five tunnel specialists to Nepal at the request of the Nepalese government.

The experts traveled by helicopter from Gyirong County in Tibet's Shigatse Prefecture and arrived in the disaster zone that afternoon, where they were deployed to assist rescue operations inside a hydropower plant tunnel. China said it would send four additional tunnel specialists to further bolster the effort.

Nepal had initially said it would not accept foreign assistance in its flood search-and-rescue operations, but later reversed course and agreed to allow overseas experts in select fields. Areas where outside help is permitted include the structural rescue of hydropower plant tunnels, DNA testing and forensic investigations.

According to the Kathmandu Post, Nepal has approved the deployment of experts and technical personnel from four countries: South Korea, India, China and Australia.

The floods have killed 626 people in Nepal as of Saturday, with 2,426 others still missing. When combined with casualties from a landslide in China's Gyirong County, the combined death toll for the two countries stands at 633, with 2,980 people unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, nine South Koreans remain out of contact following the disaster — six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three from Korea South-East Power (KOEN), all of whom had been working at the Rasuwa hydropower plant construction site in Nepal. The Nepalese military launched a helicopter search on Friday based on coordinates and estimated locations provided by the South Korean government, but found no trace of the missing workers.


rim@heraldcorp.com