Eight South Koreans are unaccounted for and 10 others are stranded after flooding in Nepal, and President Lee Jae-myung has ordered an all-out response to the search and rescue effort.
Eight Korean employees of Korea Southeast Power and Doosan Enerbility (034020) who were building a hydroelectric plant in Nepal's Rasuwa district lost contact after sudden flooding hit the area on the 26th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Nepal's government has deployed a rescue team made up of army and police personnel to the affected area to carry out search and rescue operations.
Ten Koreans employed by Doosan Enerbility are stranded at the site and awaiting rescue. Nepal's government has sent a helicopter to retrieve them.
The Korean Embassy in Nepal notified the Nepalese government that the eight Koreans were out of contact as soon as it learned of the incident and requested a swift and aggressive search and rescue effort. It also dispatched a consul to the scene.
The government has set up an emergency task force for overseas nationals headed by Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, and plans to send a joint government rapid response team of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Fire Agency and the Korean National Police Agency to Nepal as soon as possible, in line with the president's instructions, the ministry said. A task force meeting chaired by Cho was also scheduled for later that night.
"Upon receiving the report of the disappearances, the president issued an urgent instruction to make the lives and safety of our citizens the top priority and to mobilize every available means in the search and rescue of the missing," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. Lee also called for close cooperation with the Nepalese government and local authorities, support for the families of the missing, measures to ensure the safety of Koreans remaining at the site, and efforts to prevent further casualties.
