[Anchor]
Some of the families of South Koreans missing in the devastating floods in Nepal have held a local press conference. The families of the missing have requested additional searches, claiming that the area where the missing are presumed to have evacuated was not sufficiently searched.
Correspondent Han Sang-woo reports.
[Reporter]
Families of missing employees from Korea South-East Power (KOEN)—which accounts for three of the nine missing South Koreans—held a press conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, this morning (local time, September 9).
[Family of Missing Person: After announcing that there were no abnormalities based on aerial surveys and vehicle patrols without conducting a single substantive foot search, they have now declared the end of the search under the excuse of safety.]
They provided social media footage from the time of the disaster and argued that the area where the missing persons are believed to have evacuated was not properly searched.
In the footage, a massive torrent of muddy water rushes toward the blue-roofed KOEN building while one bus and two SUVs hurriedly drive away. A scene of someone getting out of a vehicle and running along a path next to the mountain is also captured.
After the camera pans to the lower reaches of the river and pans back, only the area where the vehicles and people attempted to evacuate is shown covered in water and soil.
They also stated that they were told a local Nepali employee was seen escaping toward the mountain, and demanded additional searches in this area.
[Family of Missing Person: There is someone who said they climbed up the mountain, were swept into the water, but were bounced back out and survived... Until three days ago, someone came forward saying they escaped from there in Nepal.]
[Family of Missing Person: If those people are somewhere in the place we mentioned, and they are found there a month, two months, or three months later, how are you going to take responsibility for this?]
Apart from the government rescue team, KOEN has added 30 local Sherpas to its existing 4 teams totaling 46 personnel to conduct land searches, while Doosan is also continuing its search using helicopters and drones.
(Video Editing: Choi Jin-hwa)
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