As contact was lost with eight Korean employees who were building a hydropower plant in Nepal due to flooding, corporations plan to both assess the situation and dispatch on-site response teams to the area.
According to the government and industry on the 26th, the flood-hit area is the construction site of the Nepal Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant, where Doosan Enerbility is carrying out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work. Of a total of 20 Korean employees, 15 were on site at the time of the disaster, and five are currently out of contact.
Doosan Enerbility said in a statement that it is making every effort to assess the situation and that it immediately set up an emergency response headquarters for swift assessment and accident management, and plans to dispatch an on-site response team to the area, including CEO Jeong Yeon-in.
It added that the emergency response headquarters will work closely with the relevant authorities and project stakeholders to do its utmost to support the search and rescue of the missing.
Korea South-East Power also moved to an emergency response. According to Korea South-East Power, among a total of seven employees dispatched locally, contact has not been made with three on-site construction management personnel, excluding staff of the local corporation in the capital, Kathmandu.
An official at Korea South-East Power said the company is taking necessary measures according to the manual while continuously attempting to make contact, centering on the department in charge of overseas business.
The Nepal government has dispatched a rescue team composed of the army and police to the disaster area and is conducting search and rescue operations. The Embassy of Korea in Nepal notified the Nepalese government that contact with eight Koreans had been lost and requested swift and proactive search and rescue.