Flags flown at half-staff at government buildings and diplomatic missions; mourning rites follow Hindu tradition

Nepal army bars on-foot search citing danger; Foreign Ministry says phone location tracking under discussion

A flag flies at half-staff at a government building in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Monday, the 13th day since a massive flood disaster struck the country. [Yonhap]
A flag flies at half-staff at a government building in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Monday, the 13th day since a massive flood disaster struck the country. [Yonhap]

Nepal observed a government-designated national day of mourning Monday — the 13th day since catastrophic floods swept through the Himalayan mountain region along the Nepal-China border — as a South Korean disaster relief team again failed to locate nine missing Korean nationals.

Flags flew at half-staff Monday morning at all government buildings and diplomatic missions in Kathmandu, including the Board of Audit and Inspection. No large-scale memorial events were held, however, and Nepalis quietly went about their daily lives while paying their respects. At some schools, students and staff gathered on the grounds to honor the victims.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah's cabinet had designated Monday, the 13th day after the flood, as the national day of mourning. In Nepal's traditional Hindu funeral rites, a 13-day mourning period concludes with a ceremony on the final day to pray for the deceased. Some families of the missing held funeral rites without remains, in keeping with the Hindu tradition that regards cremation as an essential final rite.

The Nepali government is conducting temporary burials of unidentified remains pending completion of forensic procedures and DNA testing, after which identifications will be made and bodies handed over to families.

The Korea Disaster Relief Team, which deployed to Nepal on Wednesday, searched again Monday in the mountainous area near the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant where the nine Koreans went missing. The team focused on a tunnel and powerhouse near the weir dam where the missing are believed to be located but found nothing of note.

"It is difficult to conduct on-foot searches in areas deemed dangerous given the local terrain," a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, adding that the ministry is in talks with Nepali authorities on using mobile phone data for location tracking.

The relief team had earlier proposed an on-foot search in Ramche, Rasuwa district, Bagmati Province — about 2 kilometers from the camp where the missing workers had been staying — but the Nepali army refused, citing safety concerns.

The team is expected to wrap up its search operations Friday, when its 10-day deployment ends. On the possibility of a second deployment, a Foreign Ministry official said it was "not currently under consideration," but added, "It seems we will review it depending on the situation on the ground."

According to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the floods that struck the northern Bagmati Province area on Aug. 26 have killed 1,355 people as of Monday. Combined with 43 deaths from flood-related mudslides in China's Tibet Autonomous Region near the border on the same day, the total death toll stands at 1,398. The number of missing reaches 5,515 — 4,996 in Nepal and 519 in Tibet.

Among the missing are nine South Korean workers who were building the UT-1 hydropower plant — six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three from Korea South-East Power.


won@heraldcorp.com