[Anchor]

The site where ten South Korean employees have lost contact is a hydroelectric power plant construction site in the Rasuwa district of Nepal. It is a major project jointly undertaken by a South Korean public enterprise and a construction company, and both firms have decided to urgently dispatch response teams to the location.

Reporting by Choi Seung-hun.

[Reporter]

The site where South Korean workers have lost contact due to massive floods in Nepal is the construction site of the Upper Trishuli-1 hydroelectric power plant.

Upper Trishuli-1 is a 216-megawatt hydroelectric power plant under construction along the Trishuli River in the Rasuwa district, located 70 kilometers north of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

The total project cost is 647 million dollars, with a construction period of 5 years, and it is scheduled for completion at the end of this year.

As Nepal's first private-sector power generation project involving South Korean companies, Korea Southern Power (KOEN) participates in project development and operation, while Doosan Enerbility is in charge of plant design, construction, and the supply of major equipment such as turbines and generators.

Doosan Enerbility stated that there were a total of 20 South Korean employees dispatched to the site, among whom 15 were at the site at the time of the disaster, and 5 remain out of contact so far.

The remaining 10 personnel at the site have been confirmed to be isolated and awaiting rescue.

KOEN also stated that out of the 7 employees dispatched to Nepal, they have been unable to reach 3 male employees who were at the power plant site.

The other 4 employees are reportedly safe at this time.

The two companies noted that local communication conditions are unstable and are continuously verifying the exact locations and status of the employees with whom contact was lost.

Doosan Enerbility explained, "We have immediately formed an emergency response headquarters for a prompt situation assessment and accident management, and plan to urgently dispatch an on-site response team including CEO Jeong Yeon-in to the location."

The company also stated, "We will make our utmost efforts to support the search and rescue of missing persons by cooperating closely with relevant authorities and project stakeholders."

KOEN also plans to send personnel to the site tomorrow (August 27) to set up a camp and support rescue operations.

(Video Editing: Choi Hye-ran, Footage Source: Doosan Enerbility & Korea Southern Power YouTube)