Helicopter Costing 8 Million Won per Hour Grounded… "Only Able to Fly One Hour a Day"

To find an employee missing following severe floods in Nepal, a South Korean company deployed a search helicopter with an hourly rental fee of at least 8 million won, but it has reportedly been unable to be put to proper use.

Doosan Enerbility rented two helicopters locally on August 27 for the search of the missing person.

However, as approval from Nepali authorities was not granted, only one helicopter could finally be launched four days later on the 31st, and for the following three days as well, only one helicopter at a time could be mobilized for the search.

The reasons for the Nepalese government's reluctance to grant permits are due to local conditions, including the ongoing risk of secondary collapses and frequently worsening weather.

A lack of infrastructure such as helicopter refueling facilities is also cited as a reason.

Therefore, even when helicopter searches are conducted, the time is limited to about one hour, and for a landed helicopter to take off again, it must receive approval from Nepalese authorities once more.

Even immediately after the accident on the 27th, flight permits were canceled or denied citing reasons of "safety and air traffic congestion."

It is known that leasing just one helicopter costs a minimum of 8 million won per hour.

According to the industry, in Nepal, a single round-trip emergency evacuation between Rasuwa, the accident site, and Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, costs about 3,000 to 7,000 dollars, which is approximately 4 million to 9.5 million won in Korean currency.

Doosan Enerbility conducted its last aerial search two days ago, but there has been no significant progress so far.

Earlier, six Doosan Enerbility employees lost contact following a massive flood that occurred in the northern Rasuwa region of Nepal on the morning of the 26th.

The government's joint rapid response team met with high-ranking Nepalese police officials yesterday, where the response team reportedly requested cooperation so that the South Korean government's Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT) could begin operations immediately upon arrival.

(Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Lee Eui-seon, Design by Yang Hye-min, Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.