Korean response team continues search efforts for 9 missing in Nepal floods

KATHMANDU/SEOUL — A Korean response team in Nepal was expected to continue search efforts Saturday for nine nationals still missing after devastating flash floods, attempting to reach the search site by helicopter after unsuccessful attempts the previous day.

Six employees of Doosan Enerbility Co. and three of Korea South-East Power Co. remain unaccounted for for a fourth day following the massive floods in Nepal's north-central Himalayan border area. They were working at a construction site in the Rasuwa district when the floods struck the region Wednesday.

Ten other Doosan workers who had been isolated at a different location have been moved to safety.

A Korean government response team in Kathmandu on Friday unsuccessfully sought to deploy chartered helicopters to the flood site where the missing Koreans might be located. Nepali authorities restricted the flights, citing unpredictable weather conditions and risks of further flooding, a Seoul official said.

The team has rented six choppers to search for the missing as the floods have destroyed roads and bridges.

Lim Sang-woo, head of the rapid response team, vowed to make all-out efforts to ensure swift search and rescue operations for the missing Koreans.

"We made search attempts for the nine missing individuals with the Nepali military mobilizing their assets, but unfortunately, we need to keep searching," Lim told correspondents in the Nepali capital.

The response team will try to deploy the helicopters again Saturday.

The Nepali military has conducted a search operation in and around the possible locations using the coordinates provided by the response team, but there were no signs of the missing people, according to Seoul officials.

Return travel plans for the 10 rescued Koreans have yet to be decided, a foreign ministry official said.

"Having been through extreme circumstances, what they need most right now is rest," the official said. "We also need to see if their health conditions are stable enough for them to travel by air."

The death toll from the catastrophic floods has reached almost 600, with nearly 2,500 others unaccounted for, according to foreign media reports.

Reports said fears of secondary flooding are rising as barrier lakes, created by debris from the collapsed Himalayan glacier that triggered the initial floods, have started to overflow.