Doosan and KOEN Response Teams Arrive in Nepal for Two-Track Support: Employee Return and On-Site Search

As nine South Korean workers remain out of contact following floods at a hydropower plant construction site in Nepal, an emergency corporate response team dispatched to the region is pursuing a two-track approach to handle the situation, focusing on the safe return of employees and searching the accident site.

The on-site response teams from Doosan Enerbility and Korea Southern Power (KOEN) plan to hold a joint meeting today (the 28th) with government response personnel and other officials dispatched to the area to map out future schedules and action plans.

Departing from Incheon International Airport the previous day, the teams traveled via Hong Kong and arrived in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, in the early hours of the day (Korean time).

Doosan Enerbility Vice Chairman and President Jung Yeon-in and KOEN New Growth Business Division Head Yoon Jang-hyun were urgently dispatched to lead their respective response teams to the site.

The officials reportedly engaged in ongoing discussions regarding future steps even while aboard the flight to Kathmandu.

An official from Doosan Enerbility stated, "As local weather and road conditions are poor, the schedule remains fluid," adding, "Now that the employees who were isolated yesterday have been moved to a safe location, we plan to first travel by helicopter to meet them and hear about their situation."

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nine of the ten South Korean employees from Doosan Enerbility who were isolated by the floods were transported to a safe area via a Nepalese military helicopter the previous day, and they are scheduled to move to Kathmandu today.

The remaining individual, a Doosan Enerbility site manager, chose to stay behind at the site, stating he would remain until all local employees were rescued.

The safety and whereabouts of the South Korean employees who lost contact have not yet been confirmed.

At the time of the accident, these workers were located in accommodations and offices situated on relatively low ground, and the buildings they were in were reportedly washed away.

Consequently, the Doosan Enerbility response team is supporting the repatriation of the rescued employees, while some members are reportedly exploring ways to travel with other officials to the Upper Trishuli (UT)-1 hydropower plant disaster site located about 70 kilometers from Kathmandu to assist in searching for the missing workers.

Similarly, the KOEN response team plans to have two members remain in the capital's corporate office to manage overall response efforts in coordination with Nepalese authorities and relevant organizations, while the remaining four members approach the damaged plant site to assess the scale of the damage and carry out emergency response activities.

The floods caused severe damage, practically washing away the upper facilities and base camp of the hydropower plant construction site, which had been scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

Ahead of his departure the previous day, Division Head Yoon Jang-hyun stated, "The construction progress rate was 84 percent, but it appears that over 90 percent of the upper weir dam has been destroyed, and about 90 percent of the base camp where construction workers stayed seems to have been wiped out," adding, "We understand that the underground power plant was not buried."

The UT-1 hydropower plant is a large-scale run-of-the-river hydropower plant with a capacity of 216 megawatts, and its total project cost amounts to 647 million dollars.

KOEN is in charge of investment and local project execution, while Doosan Enerbility is responsible for plant construction and the manufacturing and supply of major equipment such as turbines and generators.

Meanwhile, the Doosan Group announced the previous day that it would provide 5 million dollars in emergency aid to the Rasuwa region of Nepal to support search, rescue, and recovery operations in the flood-affected areas.

Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won stated, "Making the safety verification and safe return of our employees our top priority, we are closely cooperating with local authorities and relevant organizations to check the local situation through all available channels," and added, "We are concentrating our company-wide capabilities to ensure that necessary measures for search, rescue, and recovery are carried out swiftly and systematically."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.