Korea dispatches disaster relief team to Nepal to support flood recovery efforts
This photo shows a building at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant construction site in Nepal damaged by debris as a South Korean government rapid response team attempted to reach the site on Tuesday to search for nine South Koreans who remain missing following last week's massive floods. Yonhap
A South Korean disaster relief team has left for Nepal to support search, rescue and other relief efforts following devastating floods, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), consisting of 44 personnel from the foreign ministry, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), fire authorities and other agencies, departed for Nepal shortly before midnight Tuesday aboard a KC-330 Cygnus multirole tanker transport aircraft, according to the ministry.
The team is expected to arrive in Nepal at 5:55 a.m. (local time), bringing 700 pieces of equipment and five search-and-rescue dogs.
The team will stay in Nepal for about 10 days, conducting search and rescue operations for victims, including nine South Koreans who remain unaccounted for.
"We plan to conduct rescue operations in consultation with the Nepali government, and our rapid response team already on the ground," a ministry official said. "The deployment may be extended beyond 10 days if necessary."
The KDRT is a statutory emergency response unit deployed to provide disaster relief, search and rescue, medical assistance and other support overseas.
It will be the KDRT's 12th deployment to a disaster site, according to the ministry.
The massive floods and mudslides hit Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border last Wednesday, killing more than 800 people and leaving around 3,000 others missing, according to foreign media reports.
"The deployment comes as the Nepali government requested our assistance with search-and- rescue operations in areas affected by the worsening floods in Rasuwa district," another ministry official said.
The government sent a separate rapid response team to Nepal last week, which has been conducting ground and aerial searches for the nine missing South Koreans.
The nine — six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three of Korea South-East Power Co. — were working at a hydroelectric power plant construction site in Rasuwa district when the floods struck the area.
Nepal's army said rescue workers recovered one body from a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, where the missing Koreans had been working.
"The identity and nationality of the victim have not yet been confirmed. We are checking the information through our diplomatic mission in Nepal," the ministry official said.
The rapid response team stepped up search cooperation with Nepal, conducting a joint search with the Nepali military Tuesday.
The team conducted an aerial search aboard a Nepal Army helicopter before landing near a weir, where it continued its ground search with Nepali military personnel.
"No significant clues regarding the whereabouts of the nine missing were found during today's search," the official said. "We will do our utmost to search for the missing using all possible means in coordination with the Nepalese authorities and with the disaster relief team."