[Anchor]
It has entered the tenth day since nine South Korean nationals went missing in the massive floods in Nepal. Our emergency relief team dispatched to the site attempted an aerial search by helicopter, but had to withdraw after just 30 minutes due to weather conditions in the expected search area.
Reporter Kang Min-u has the details.
[Reporter]
The South Korean government's emergency relief team has set up its base camp at the Nepali Army's Trishuli military base in Batar, near the flood-affected area.
On the afternoon of the 3rd local time, they boarded a Nepali military helicopter to conduct an aerial search.
Although it was their first helicopter search since setting up the base camp, they had to return after 30 minutes as weather conditions deteriorated in the area where the missing persons are expected to be.
[Lee Gyu-ho / Head of Korea Disaster Relief Team: Heavy rain started falling midway, causing shaking... and the fog became too dense. So we turned back.]
The search for the missing South Koreans is being conducted in the Dunche and Ramche areas, located up to 30 kilometers in a straight line from the Batar base camp.
Authorities are searching for one person near a weir dam close to Dunche, and eight people around facilities such as an office building in the Ramche area.
Earlier, the emergency relief team shared future operational plans with the commander of the Nepali Army and sought cooperation.
The relief team plans to attempt another search using helicopters and drones today (the 4th), aiming to continuously cooperate with the Nepali Army to expand the scope of ground and air searches and accelerate the search pace.
The day before yesterday, six firefighters from the emergency response team who arrived locally in advance teamed up with two Nepali military personnel to board a helicopter in the Dunche area, entered the Ramche area where South Korean nationals are presumed to be, and conducted a ground search.
The relief team stated that they approached to within about 50 meters of the main camp, which houses the office building and other structures where contact with the eight South Korean nationals was lost, but reported that no unusual signs have been found yet.
(Camera Journalist: Seol Chi-hwan, Kang Si-woo | Video Editor: Nam Il | Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
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