The first team of the Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), which had been dispatched to Nepal to respond to the massive flooding, returned home on the 12th after a 10-day mission. During the search, the team rescued one Chinese survivor who had been in a hydropower plant tunnel.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first KDRT team arrived at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, at about 1:30 a.m. that day on a KC-330 military transport aircraft.
The 44-member first team arrived in Nepal on the 2nd and, together with local authorities, carried out search and rescue operations focusing on the construction site of the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant, where the missing Korean nationals had worked.
In the process, the KDRT rescued one Chinese survivor from a UT-1 plant tunnel.
At the time, Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming said on X that "one Chinese national was safely rescued by Korean and Nepalese rescue teams in the landslide and flood-hit area on the China-Nepal border," adding, "It is a miracle of life achieved 10 days after the disaster. I express deep gratitude and respect to the rescue teams of both countries."
However, no meaningful traces or notable developments were found regarding the whereabouts of the nine missing Koreans.
It was reported that the rugged mountainous terrain, unstable ground, and unpredictable weather imposed significant limits on searches using foot patrols and drones.
As Nepalese authorities shift the focus of their response from search and rescue to reconstruction and recovery, Korea's on-site response is also expected to center on follow-up measures such as confirming traces of the missing and supporting reconstruction and recovery rather than large-scale searches.
The second KDRT team, which relieved the first team, arrived in Kathmandu on the 11th. It consists of eight people in total, two each from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Fire Agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the National Medical Center (NMC), and is expected to operate for about a week.
While supporting the activities of the local response team, the Embassy of Korea in Nepal, and the search teams of corporations, the second team will discuss reconstruction and recovery cooperation plans with Nepalese authorities and international organizations.
The existing government joint rapid response team will be reorganized from that day into a "government joint response team" consisting of seven personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean National Police Agency, and the National Forensic Service. Personnel from the police agency and the National Forensic Service will work jointly with local staff at Nepal's Central Police Forensic Science Laboratory to support identification of the deceased.