Search on the Ground and Drone Deployment After Missing the 'Golden Time'... Helicopters Waited for Days to No Avail

Yonhap News Agency [Financial News] Ground searches for nine South Korean workers missing after a glacial lake outburst flood in Nepal began six days after the accident. Search drones will also be deployed. As helicopter searches continued to face setbacks for several days, the government rapid response team decided to carry out ground searches in parallel.
So far, the government rapid response team has focused only on helicopter searches to locate the South Korean workers. However, it has failed to search the accident site because of restrictions on helicopter operations imposed by Nepalese authorities and worsening weather conditions.
On the 31st, the government rapid response team sent a ground search unit to the site, including nine rescue experts from the National Fire Agency. The team will travel by vehicle through the Batar area, the first base, and then approach the Ramche area, which is 1 to 2 kilometers on foot from the accident site. Search drones capable of low-altitude flight are expected to be deployed first. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, the drones will be used to scan narrow valleys and steep slopes where helicopters cannot land and to look for traces of the missing.
The ground search comes on the sixth day since our citizens went missing after massive floods and landslides swept through the mountainous region of northern Nepal. The so-called golden time has already passed.
The government rapid response team had been preparing to deploy helicopters since the 27th, but by the 30th it had managed to take off only once in four days. Even then, it reportedly did not search the accident site. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed this only a day after the first helicopter search, following calls from the families of the missing to make the search details public. Kim Kyung-soo, rainman@fnnews. com On the morning of the 31st local time, the joint government rapid response team is gathering at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kathmandu, Nepal, to move to the affected area.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter