First aerial search in Nepal fails to find missing Koreans

KATHMANDU, Nepal — The Korean government’s rapid response team searched Nepal’s flood-affected region from the air for the first time on Saturday but did not find any of the nine missing Korean workers.

The team plans to widen its search in cooperation with Nepali authorities, but the steep, wooded terrain; damaged roads; and Nepal’s decision not to accept foreign rescue crews continue to limit its reach.

“Two searches were carried out, one in which a helicopter carried members of our […] team, but unfortunately, we were unable to find any survivors,” Lim Sang-woo, who heads the rapid response team, told reporters in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Saturday.

The nine missing Korean workers are employees of Doosan Enerbility and Korea South-East Power who were working at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydroelectric Project in the Rasuwa District when the flood struck on Wednesday.

Since roads in the area have been washed away, the site can now be reached only by helicopter.

“We flew to the area where we believed that survivors could be […] but the site is thick with trees and on a slope,” Lim said. “We could not even land since we were unable to confirm whether the ground was stable, so we checked [the area] by eye, secured video footage and returned.”

Korean officials had planned to search with a government-chartered helicopter on Friday, but Nepali military restrictions grounded the aircraft. Clearance came through on Saturday morning, and the team went up at 11:45 a.m. and again at 12:38 p.m.

“The position of the Nepali authorities is that they are not accepting rescue teams from other countries,” Lim said. “We are providing coordinates and other information on where our nationals are believed to have gone missing to Nepali authorities and working to have them commit their own resources.”

Nepali troops have searched around the points that the Korean team marked but have not found any sign of the missing.

“While searching from the air [on Saturday], we saw a Nepali military helicopter land near the coordinates that we had provided and carry out a search,” Lim said. “We will ask the Nepali authorities to search again [on Sunday], and if conditions allow, we will fly our own helicopter as well.”

Korean and other foreign helicopters will go up again only if the weather holds and Nepali authorities allow it.

“Every country is making an effort, but the difficulty of the situation is the same for all of us,” Lim said.

“A considerable amount of trust has built up in the relationship between Korea and Nepal. Saturday’s search appears to reflect that,” he added.

Seoul sent nine more personnel to Nepal on Saturday to join the existing team: one official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eight from the National Fire Agency.

Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won and Vice Chairman Park Gee-won also arrived in Nepal on Saturday. Park Jeong-won plans to support the search and rescue effort from Kathmandu.

“Rescue efforts are still underway for our employees,” Park Gee-won told reporters at Tribhuvan International Airport. “I came because I thought that it would be better to be here in person to keep track of the situation. We will work closely with the government response team so the rescue can move ahead as quickly as possible.”

The death toll in Nepal reached at least 626 as of Saturday, with more than 2,400 people missing.

BY BYUN MIN-CHUL [[email protected]]