Doosan Enerbility Vice Chairman Jeong Yeon-in Arrives at Nepal Flood Site... "All-Out Effort to Bring Employees Home Safely and Handle the Aftermath"

[Financial News] As contact has been lost with Korean employees after a massive flood hit a hydropower construction site in Nepal, a field response team led by Doosan Enerbility Vice Chairman Jeong Yeon-in has arrived on site and is making every effort to support rescue operations and accident response.
According to industry sources on the 28th, the emergency field response team, made up of seven to eight people including Jeong, arrived in Nepal at around 1:15 a.m. Korean time. Doosan Enerbility plans to immediately reinforce the team with additional personnel as needed, depending on the search effort and local conditions.
Before departing, Jeong told reporters at Incheon International Airport, "We will work closely with the relevant authorities and do our utmost to rescue the employees who have lost contact."
Earlier, on the 26th local time, a record-breaking flood in Rasuwa, Bagmati Province, in north-central Nepal, directly struck the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, which is being jointly developed by Korea South-East Power and Doosan Enerbility.
As of now, contact has been lost with a total of nine Korean nationals, including six Doosan Enerbility employees and three Korea South-East Power employees. Of the 10 Doosan Enerbility employees who were stranded at the site, nine were evacuated to a safe area by a Nepalese military helicopter. One site manager reportedly remained behind, saying he would stay until all remaining workers were rescued, and is helping with the response.
The UT-1 project, for which Doosan Enerbility was responsible for engineering, procurement and construction, had been in its final stages with completion targeted for December and was 84% finished. However, the sudden downpour caused severe damage, washing away more than 90% of the upper facilities of the power plant.
Immediately after the accident, Doosan Enerbility set up an emergency response headquarters of about 40 people, headed by Lee Dong-soo, head of the EHS division and vice president, and moved into a 24-hour emergency response mode. The company said it will fully support airfare, lodging and other arrangements if families of employees working locally wish to visit Nepal, after gathering their views.
Emergency relief support from the Doosan Group was also provided quickly. The group decided to urgently provide $5 million, or about 7 billion won, to Rasuwa, Nepal, to help with accident response and flood recovery.
In a message to employees the previous day, Doosan Group Chairman Park Jung-won said, "The company is treating this situation with the utmost seriousness," adding, "Above all, we are deeply aware of the anxiety and pain felt by the families who are waiting desperately for news."
Park added, "We are making the safety confirmation and safe return of our employees our top priority and are working closely with local authorities and related agencies." He emphasized, "We will concentrate all of the group's capabilities so that search, rescue and recovery measures can proceed quickly and systematically." 

[email protected] Kim Dong-ho Reporter