At the site of the massive flooding in Nepal, the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), which is conducting rescue operations, on the 8th (local time) searched areas around the locations requested by the families of missing Koreans, but found no leads.
KDRT flew with the Nepal Army on two helicopters to Rasuwa in Bagmati Province in the north-central region, then attempted searches near the powerhouse of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 Hydropower Plant and Yellow Bridge.
This is the area the families of the missing have been asking to be searched.
One of the helicopters carrying KDRT members landed in the powerhouse area, and the other landed at a Nepal Army base camp 6 kilometers from the powerhouse.
The team that landed at the powerhouse focused on searching the surroundings by drone, in line with the Nepal Army's assessment that the steep slopes left no areas where a foot search was possible.
Another team conducted a foot search along a temporary road upstream to find possible evacuation points but stopped where the road was cut off, then carried out a drone search for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
However, nothing unusual related to the missing was found, according to reports.
At a briefing held in the afternoon at the KDRT base camp, Cho Hyun-mun, head of the Rescue Headquarters at the National Fire Agency, said, "In my 33 years of service, I have experience searching and rescuing at many similar disaster sites, including the 2006 landslides in Naerincheon, Inje, Gangwon Province during torrential rains, but at the Nepal site this time, we could not help but feel helpless in the face of the disaster's uniqueness beyond comparison with Korea and the terrain's access limitations."
He added, "We are doing our best while Koreans are out of contact, but we feel sorry and remorseful for what is beyond our capacity."
On the day, the Nepal rescue team concentrated its efforts at the hydropower plant where many people went missing.
Dharma Raj Upreti, administrator of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said, "Our search operation is focused on finding survivors, including inside the (hydropower plant) tunnels."
He said, "We are especially focusing on the Chilime Hydropower Plant (in Rasuwa, Bagmati Province)," adding, "Because there were cafeterias and dormitories there, we presume workers may be trapped."
The Nepal rescue team estimates that 121 of about 900 employees missing from 12 hydropower plants including Chilime are trapped in several tunnels.
Administrator Upreti said the Nepal rescue team is also focusing on the tunnels of the Trishuli 3A Hydropower Plant and 3B Hydropower Plant in Bagmati Province, adding, "We are supplying oxygen to these tunnels through pipes and have also sent new equipment (to the site) to break through tunnel entrances blocked by mud and debris."
The Trishuli 3A Hydropower Plant is about 6 kilometers downstream along the Trishuli River from the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 Hydropower Plant, where nine missing Koreans worked.
In the area around this hydropower plant, two Nepalese employees were dramatically rescued on the 5th, nine days after the massive flooding.
However, the Nepal Army has recently sharply reduced the number of helicopter sorties related to the search, and the remaining helicopters are reportedly being redirected to transport relief and recovery supplies.
As of the day, 1,357 people were counted dead in Nepal alone due to the massive flooding that began on the 26th in the upper Himalaya mountain region. Adding 43 who died in a debris flow incident related to this flood in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China near the border, the total death toll is 1,400.
The number of missing is reported to be 5,845 in total, combining 5,326 in Nepal and 519 in the Tibet region.
Among them are the nine Koreans who were building the UT-1 Hydropower Plant. They are six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three employees of Korea South-East Power.