Government to Deploy Helicopters to Nepal Flood Site...Foreign Minister Cho Hyun Meets Families of Missing Workers

[Financial News] Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met on the 29th with the families of nine Korean workers who went missing in Nepal after a glacier flood on the 26th. However, the government did not disclose the details of the meeting between Cho and the families. The nine Korean workers, employed by Korea South-East Power Co., Ltd. and Doosan Enerbility, are currently missing at a hydropower plant construction site in Nepal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Cho explained the situation in Nepal in detail and listened to the families' views. The families had expressed frustration that the joint government rapid response team had not even been able to deploy a helicopter three days after the accident. The ministry said, "Because the meeting was held informally, we cannot disclose the specific details."
Around the time of Cho's meeting with the families, the joint government rapid response team launched a helicopter carrying only four National Fire Agency personnel. Search efforts will focus on the area around the hydropower plant.
However, it said no search had yet been conducted in the downstream area away from the accident site. There have been calls for a search downstream, as the missing workers may have been swept away by the flood.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Reports that some staff from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal were sent to the Bharatpur area to determine whether downstream search operations were possible are not true," adding, "The government is currently pushing ahead with search and rescue operations centered on the estimated evacuation area of our missing nationals."
The government has chartered a total of six helicopters together with Doosan Enerbility and Korea South-East Power Co., Ltd. The government response team, consisting of five NFA personnel and one Foreign Ministry official, has been waiting at Kathmandu Airport after boarding the chartered helicopters separately. However, they have been grounded as Nepalese military authorities restricted helicopter access over fears of a second major flood.

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