Massive Torrent Strikes Without Warning: 9 South Koreans Unreachable

[Anchor]

The death toll from massive floods and landslides in the border region between Nepal and Tibet, China, has risen to at least 160. Nine South Korean employees at a local hydropower plant construction site are also out of contact.

Reporter Kim Young-a has the details.

[Reporter]

Accompanied by a roaring sound, a massive body of water sweeps rapidly down the valley.

The violent torrent crashes directly into the hydropower plant construction site, leaving no time to escape.

At around 9:00 a.m. yesterday (the 26th) local time, massive landslides and flash floods struck the Himalayan border area where Gyirong County in China's Tibet Autonomous Region meets Rasuwa district in northern Nepal.

Nine South Korean employees belonging to Korea South-East Power Co. and Doosan Enerbility, who were working at the hydropower plant construction site, have lost contact.

It is reported that another 10 South Koreans who were temporarily isolated by the floods have evacuated to safe locations.

The Nepal Police Headquarters stated that as of 11:00 p.m. yesterday local time, 157 bodies had been recovered in Nepal alone.

Chinese state media previously announced that three people died in the Tibet region, bringing the combined death toll from both countries to at least 160.

Nepalese authorities stated that 484 people, including 391 foreigners and 93 Nepalese citizens, are missing. With the disaster area being extensive and communication disruptions hampering efforts to assess the scale of the missing, the possibility of the numbers increasing further cannot be ruled out.

Separately, China also stated that 558 people are missing on the Chinese side.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal reported to the Nepalese parliament on preliminary investigation findings that a landslide triggered by an earthquake occurred at 8:37 a.m. yesterday local time, which led to the flash floods.

However, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stated through further analysis that the earthquake initially cited as the cause of the landslides and floods was actually determined to be ground shaking generated during a glacier collapse.

A similar flash flood occurred in the affected area in August of last year.

Global warming caused meltwater from adjacent glaciers in Tibet to fill lakes, which then poured downstream in an instant.

At that time, nine people died and infrastructure, including bridges connecting Nepal and China, was destroyed.

(Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.