Koreans who were trapped at the flood site in Nepal's Rasuwa district and then rescued are believed to have survived because they were located at a higher rent(expense).
According to Yonhap News on the 27th, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, "They say even the power plant was almost entirely swept away," and "They say the building where people had been out of contact was also lost."
Nine Koreans affiliated with Doosan Enerbility and Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN), whose whereabouts became unclear due to the Nepal flood the previous day, were staying in offices and lodgings mainly used by Korean employees at the time of the incident.
This place, where the rent(expense) is relatively low, took the brunt of the flood, and the whereabouts of the nine Koreans who had taken part in the hydropower plant construction work remain unknown.
In contrast, although roads were blocked by the flood, 10 Koreans who were able to wait for rescue while remaining safe were in a place called the "powerhouse," where local employees mainly lived and worked.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said, "The powerhouse is some distance from the river area and the rent(expense) is higher," adding, "That's why it wasn't damaged."
This location was far from the flood-hit zone, and because it was ordinarily a place where employees ate and slept, water and food were stocked.
A consul from the Embassy of Korea in Nepal, who was urgently dispatched to the site, checked their condition in person and found no apparent health problems. However, with nearby roads destroyed by the flood and no way out of the area, they had to wait for helicopter rescue.
Nepalese authorities used helicopters that day to move nine of the 10 Koreans who had been staying at the powerhouse to a safe area.
In addition to the 10 Koreans, hundreds of foreigners and locals were also trapped in the powerhouse area, but because the number of helicopters available to Nepalese authorities was limited, evacuations were carried out in stages, delaying the rescue. The nine were also rescued over four sorties, not all at once.
The one remaining person is the on-site manager from Doosan Enerbility, who said they would stay on site until 15 Nepalese employees were rescued. In response, the consul and an embassy administrative staffer also remained at the site with the manager.
At the time of the incident, a total of 28 Koreans were at the site. Of the 21 Doosan Enerbility employees, six are out of contact. Ten survived at the powerhouse, and five were on leave. Among the seven from Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN), four are safe and three are out of contact.
Nepal police and the military are conducting rescue and search operations, but because the terrain is a rugged mountainous rent(expense), searches are not carried out at night and work continues only from after sunrise until before sunset.
The government dispatched a rapid response team of 11 personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Fire Agency, and the Korean National Police Agency to the area that day.
Given its equipment and manpower, the rapid response team plans to focus on assessing on-site conditions and seeking cooperation from Nepalese authorities rather than carrying out searches and rescues directly.
Minister Cho Hyun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a call with Nepal's foreign minister that day, requested cooperation for rescue and search operations and said Korea would review and push for the swift dispatch of the Korea Disaster Relief Team.
The Korea Disaster Relief Team is typically dispatched to other countries for humanitarian support when disasters occur, but if sent this time, it is expected to conduct searches for and rescues of Koreans as well. However, for the government to deploy the team, it must obtain the Nepalese government's consent.