KDRT searches for missing people due to floods in Nepal, drone and foot search yields no results

(Baatar, Kathmandu = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Jin-hyung and Son Hyeon-gyu = The Korean Overseas Emergency Relief Team (KDRT), which is conducting search and rescue activities at the site of the major floods in Nepal, attempted to conduct a search on foot and by drone on the 8th (local time) near the area where the families of missing Koreans had requested a search, but was unsuccessful.

On this day, KDRT, along with the Nepalese military, took two helicopters and moved to the Rasuwa area of ​​Bagmati Province in the north-central region and attempted a search near the powerhouse and Yellow Bridge of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydroelectric power plant.

This area has been a place where families of missing people have strongly requested a search.

On this day, one helicopter carrying KDRT members landed in the Powerhouse area, and the other helicopter landed at the Nepal Army base camp, 6km away from the Powerhouse.

Afterwards, the team that landed at the Powerhouse conducted an intensive search of the surrounding area with a drone, following the Nepalese military's judgment that there was no area suitable for a foot search due to the steep slope.

Another team searched on foot along the temporary road heading upstream to find a possible evacuation point, but then stopped at a point where the road was cut off and conducted a drone search for about an hour and 40 minutes.

However, KDRT reported that nothing unusual was found related to the missing people that day.

KDRT's Cho Hyun-moon, head of the National Fire Agency Rescue Headquarters, held a briefing in Batar, Bagmati Province, where KDRT's base camp is located this afternoon, and said, "I have been working for 33 years and have experience in search and rescue at numerous similar damage sites, including the 2006 torrential rain landslide in Naerincheon, Inje, Gangwon-do, but at this site in Nepal, I could not help but feel helpless in the face of the uniqueness of the disaster and geographical access restrictions that cannot be compared to Korea."

He added, "We are doing our best in a situation where there are people who have lost contact, but we are sorry and regretful that we are not able to do so."

On this day, the Nepalese rescue team intensively carried out rescue operations at a hydroelectric power plant where many people went missing.

“Our search operations are focused on finding survivors, including inside the (hydroelectric power plant) tunnel,” said Dharma Raj Upreti, director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Agency.

“We are particularly focused on the Chilime hydroelectric power plant (in Rasuwa district, Bagmati province),” he said. “It is presumed that workers are trapped there because there were cafeterias and accommodations there.”

Nepalese rescue teams estimate that 121 of the approximately 900 employees missing from 12 hydroelectric power plants, including Chilime, are trapped in various tunnels.

Director Upreti also explained that the Nepalese rescue team is also focusing on the tunnels of Trishuli 3A and 3B hydroelectric power plants in Bagmati Province, adding, "We are supplying oxygen to these tunnels through pipes and have also sent new equipment (to the site) to unclog the tunnel entrances with mud and debris."

The Trishuli 3A Hydroelectric Power Plant is located approximately 6 km downstream along the Trishuli River from the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 Hydroelectric Power Plant, where the nine missing Koreans worked.

On the 5th, two Nepalese employees were dramatically rescued in the area of ​​this hydroelectric power plant, 9 days after a major flood occurred.

Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah said, "We are well aware of our responsibility and its sensitivity," and emphasized, "We are putting into practice the humanitarian spirit of the Nepalese people through search and rescue operations."

However, it is known that the Nepalese military has recently significantly reduced the number of search-related helicopter operations and is shifting the focus of its activities by using the remaining helicopters to transport relief and recovery materials.

The Chinese government announced this morning that it had sent its fourth batch of emergency relief supplies to Nepal to provide relief and recovery support to the victims.

The supplies provided this time included rescue and transportation equipment, lighting, and body disposal equipment.

As of this day, 1,357 people have died in Nepal alone due to the massive flood that occurred in the upper reaches of the Himalayan mountain range on the 26th of last month. The total number of deaths, including 43 people who died in the debris flow related to this flood in China's Tibet Autonomous Region near the border, is 1,400.

The total number of missing people is 5,845, including 5,326 in Nepal and 519 in Tibet.

Among the missing were nine Korean employees who were constructing the UT-1 hydroelectric power plant. There are 6 employees of Doosan Energy and 3 employees of South East Power Company.