Flyers seeking missing persons are posted on an exterior wall of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, on the morning of Sept. 29 local time, the fourth day of the country’s massive flooding. Yonhap News1
The death toll from massive flooding that struck the Himalayan mountains along the Nepal-China border has risen to 633, with the number of missing approaching 3,000. Nine South Koreans working at a hydropower construction site in Nepal have been out of contact for a fourth day, and Korea South-East Power (KOEN) and Doosan Enerbility have launched a search using helicopters and drones. But the Nepali military has restricted helicopter flights over safety concerns, and worsening local weather has made full-scale search and rescue operations difficult.
Nepal’s disaster agency has counted 626 deaths so far from the massive flooding that hit the northern province of Bagmati on the 26th, according to the Associated Press and other outlets on the 29th. Seven people were killed by debris flows triggered by flooding in Gyirong County, Shigatse, in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, bringing the combined toll in the two countries to 633.
The death toll stood at 579 as of the previous day, but rose by more than 40 in a single day as bodies were recovered one after another in Bagmati and other affected areas.
More Than 500 of the Missing Are Foreigners From Some 30 Countries
The number of missing is also climbing rapidly. In Nepal, the figure rose by about 500 to 2,426 from 1,924. Adding 554 missing in Tibet, a total of 2,980 people remain unaccounted for across the two countries. More than 500 of the missing are foreigners from some 30 countries, including India and the United States.
The fate of the nine South Koreans remains unknown for a fourth day. They are six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three from Korea South-East Power who were building the Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) hydropower plant in Nepal.
Corporate response teams on the ground are deploying helicopters and drones to search for the missing. One helicopter chartered by Korea South-East Power received approval from the Nepali military on the 28th and conducted a single search over the flood-hit area. Nepali authorities, wary of a second flood, had withheld flight permission before clearing the aircraft just before sunset, allowing the first search to proceed. The whereabouts of the missing South Koreans have yet to be confirmed.
A Nepalese military helicopter that took off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, heads toward flood-hit areas on Sept. 28 local time, the third day of the country’s massive flooding. Kathmandu — News1
Bad Weather and Limited Flight Clearance Stall Efforts
Korea South-East Power and Doosan Enerbility had planned to begin full-scale helicopter searches that day, but bad weather intervened. Doosan Enerbility had secured flight clearance from Nepali authorities and completed preparations, but could not take off as of that morning because of rain and other poor conditions over the accident area.
The Nepali military is also granting flight permits only sparingly, citing the risk of further flooding and safety incidents. Doosan Enerbility chartered two helicopters the previous day as well but was unable to search after failing to obtain clearance. The South Korean government’s rapid response team was likewise unable to get a helicopter airborne.
If weather improves and helicopter flights resume, higher ground around the accident site is expected to become the focus of the search. Corporate response teams believe the workers who lost contact were at the base camp when the disaster struck. Because the site’s evacuation manual calls for moving to higher ground toward the mountain in the event of flooding, the teams consider it likely that the missing fled uphill to escape the torrent.
The helicopter Doosan Enerbility plans to deploy will carry both Nepali personnel familiar with local terrain and South Korean employees who have worked at the site. Drones will also be used to first survey higher ground within the wide disaster zone where the missing may have taken shelter. Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won is also traveling to Nepal that day. Park plans to arrive on a direct Korean Air flight to Kathmandu in the afternoon to support search and rescue operations at the site in person.
Government Adds Staff, Bringing On-Site Team to 20
The South Korean government is also increasing the number of personnel supporting search and rescue efforts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to send an additional joint government rapid response team to Nepal that day, made up of one ministry official and eight staff from the National Fire Agency. An 11-member rapid response team led by Lim Sang-woo, the ministry’s government representative for overseas Koreans protection and consular affairs, was dispatched on the 27th. With the additional personnel, the on-site team will grow to about 20.
Rescue work at the site itself is also proving difficult. Nepali rescue authorities believe more than 100 people may be trapped inside a flooded tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower plant and are attempting a rescue. Mud 1.2 to 1.5 meters deep has accumulated inside the tunnel, and space for helicopters to land is limited, making access difficult for rescue crews.
The disaster is believed to have begun on the 26th when a large mass of glacier ice and rock collapsed in the high Himalayas near the Nepal-China border. A glacier some 600 meters wide gave way along with rock at an altitude of about 5,200 meters on Langtang Lirung, a 7,234-meter peak, generating an impact analysts assessed as comparable to a magnitude 5.2 earthquake.
The ice and debris that poured down the mountain swept downstream through the Lhende River and along the Trishuli River, and is believed to have caused the massive flooding. Experts are focusing on the possibility that the risk of such ice and rock collapses is growing as global warming melts Himalayan glaciers and destabilizes high-altitude terrain.