44-member team led by Foreign Ministry's Lee Kyu-ho deployed at Nepal's request to focus search on area where Korean nationals went missing

The area around a weir dam in Nepal's Rasuwa region is blanketed in debris on Tuesday (local time), as members of South Korea's government joint rapid response team attempt to reach the site in search of nine Korean nationals who lost contact following massive flooding. [Yonhap]
The area around a weir dam in Nepal's Rasuwa region is blanketed in debris on Tuesday (local time), as members of South Korea's government joint rapid response team attempt to reach the site in search of nine Korean nationals who lost contact following massive flooding. [Yonhap]

South Korea's Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) has been dispatched to Nepal aboard the Air Force's multirole aerial refueling tanker Cygnus (KC-330) to support search-and-rescue operations in the flood-stricken Rasuwa region.

The KDRT, led by Development Cooperation Bureau Director General Lee Kyu-ho of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, departed Seoul Airport at around midnight Wednesday and arrived in Kathmandu that morning.

The 44-member team comprises three Foreign Ministry officials including Lee, four Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) staff and 37 National Fire Agency personnel. The Cygnus also carried five search-and-rescue dogs along with high-resolution drones, acoustic and visual detectors for locating buried survivors, thermal imaging equipment, submersible pumps, and gear for swift-water rescue and the removal of fallen trees and debris.

Dispatched at the official request of the Nepalese government, the KDRT will conduct search-and-rescue operations over approximately 10 days, focusing on locating nine Korean nationals who remain out of contact as well as assisting local victims.

Before the team's departure, Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jin-a visited Seoul Airport to encourage the relief workers.

"I hope the team's efforts will protect the lives and safety of our citizens while also sending a message of solidarity and hope to the people of Nepal, who have suffered a major disaster," Kim said. She also urged team members to take every precaution for their personal safety as they carry out the critical mission of searching for and rescuing victims under harsh conditions on the ground.

The KDRT plans to coordinate with the Nepalese government and the joint rapid response team already on the ground to finalize its operational plan. The search will center on the area where the nine Korean nationals are believed to have gone missing, and the deployment period may be extended depending on conditions.

Massive flooding struck Nepal's Rasuwa region on Aug. 26, after which the government dispatched a rapid response team that has been conducting searches by helicopter, drone and on foot. On Tuesday, the team carried out a joint search with the Nepalese Army across the affected area but found no new leads on the whereabouts of the missing Koreans.

With the KDRT's arrival, the search-and-rescue effort is expected to intensify as additional specialist personnel and equipment are brought in.

The KDRT is a government relief unit assembled from personnel across ministries and related agencies to provide disaster relief, search-and-rescue and medical assistance to countries hit by large-scale overseas disasters. First deployed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, the team has been activated 11 times since — most recently for the 2023 Canada wildfires — making this its 12th deployment.

The Cygnus was also deployed in March in "Operation Light of the Desert," a mission to evacuate Korean nationals stranded by the war in the Middle East. On that mission, the aircraft transported 211 people from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, including 204 Korean nationals, five foreign-national family members and two Japanese citizens.

The name Cygnus, meaning "the Swan constellation," was chosen through a competition among Air Force personnel. It was inspired by the image of the tanker flying ahead of the fighter jets it refuels, resembling a swan leading a flock in flight.

A modified version of Airbus's A330-200, the Cygnus can carry about 300 personnel and 47 metric tons of cargo. The first aircraft was delivered in November 2018, with three more added the following year.


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