[Anchor]

Yesterday morning, a major flood struck Nepal, leaving nine South Koreans unreachable and ten waiting to be rescued. The death toll from those swept away by the rapid currents has reached at least 160, and the number continues to rise.

Our first report today comes from Kim Gyu-ri.

[Reporter]

A massive wall of water tears down a valley at high speed, accompanied by a roaring sound.

The violent torrent overwhelms a hydroelectric power plant construction site without giving workers any time to escape.

Around 9:00 a.m. yesterday local time, a large-scale landslide and flash flood occurred in the Himalayan border region between Gyirong County in China's Tibet Autonomous Region and the Rasuwa district in northern Nepal.

Nine South Korean employees working at the hydroelectric power plant construction site, affiliated with Korea South-East Power Co. and Doosan Enerbility, have lost contact.

Another ten South Koreans, who were temporarily isolated by the flood, are reported to have safely evacuated to a secure location.

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 earlier reported that three people died in the Tibet region, bringing the combined death toll in both countries to at least 160.

Nepali authorities stated that 484 people, including 391 foreigners and 93 Nepali nationals, are missing. With the disaster area spanning a wide region and communication disruptions hindering the assessment of the missing, the possibility of the figures increasing further cannot be ruled out.

Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs reported to the Nepali parliament on preliminary findings that a landslide triggered by an earthquake occurred at 8:37 a.m. yesterday local time, which in turn caused the flash flood.

However, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stated through further analysis that the earthquake initially pointed to as the cause of the landslide and flood 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.

Water melted from adjacent glaciers in Tibet due to global warming filled up lakes and instantly poured downstream.

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

[Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik]