[Anchor]

As you just heard, contact has been lost with nine South Koreans at a hydroelectric power plant construction site following floods in Nepal. This large-scale project involving domestic public enterprises and construction firms was scheduled for completion by the end of this year, and both companies have decided to urgently dispatch response teams to the site.

Reporter Sim Useop.

[Reporter]

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

Upper Trishuli-1 is a 216-megawatt hydroelectric power plant being built along the Trishuli River in the Rasuwa region, located 70 kilometers north of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu.

The total project cost is 647 million dollars, with a construction period of five 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 (KOMIPO) participated in project development and operation, while Doosan Enerbility was tasked with plant design and construction, as well as supplying major equipment such as turbines and generators.

Doosan Enerbility stated that there were a total of 20 South Korean employees at the site, among whom 6 are currently out of contact.

KOMIPO also stated that out of 7 employees dispatched to Nepal, 3 male employees who were at the power plant site could not be reached.

The remaining 4 employees are reportedly safe.

The two companies explained that local communication conditions are unstable and are continuously verifying the exact locations and status of the disconnected employees.

Doosan Enerbility stated, "We have immediately formed an emergency task force for rapid situation assessment and accident handling, and plan to urgently dispatch an on-site response team including CEO Jeong Yeon-in to the site."

It also added, "We will do our utmost to support the search and rescue of the missing persons by closely cooperating with relevant authorities and project stakeholders."

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

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