▲ This Reuters photo shows members of the Nepali Army carrying a survivor who is being airlifted following a flash flood at Trishuli in the Nuwakot district, Nepal, on Aug. 26, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ This handout video grab from UGC footage of the Nepal Army taken and released by AFP on Aug. 26, 2026, shows military personnel rescuing a man stranded by massive floods and landslides along the Nepal-Tibet border. A massive flood and landslide disaster unleashed on the Nepal-Tibet border killed nearly 100 on Aug. 26 and left several hundred people missing, many of whom are foreign tourists. (Yonhap)
▲ In this AP photo, damaged houses stand precariously near the swollen, debris-choked banks of the Trishuli River after flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on Aug. 26, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (C, rear) presides over a meeting of the Overseas Korean Protection Headquarters at the foreign ministry in Seoul on Aug. 26, 2026, after eight South Koreans were unaccounted for and 10 others were stranded following a massive flood in Nepal. (Yonhap)

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By Oh Seok-min

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government sent a joint emergency response team to Nepal on Thursday to support search and rescue efforts for nine South Koreans who remain unaccounted for following massive flooding, the foreign ministry said.

The nine Koreans -- six employees of plant builder Doosan Enerbility Co. and three of Korea South-East Power Co., a state-run power generation company -- went missing while working at a hydropower plant construction site in Nepal's Rasuwa district after a massive flash flood and mudslide struck the area Wednesday.

Separately, 10 other Doosan workers who had been stranded in the area were confirmed safe but were still awaiting rescue, according to the ministry. They had evacuated the area along with about 200 foreign employees working on the construction project.

The disaster in Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border killed at least 160 people and left 403 others missing, 341 of them foreigners, according to foreign media reports.

The 11-member team, comprising officials from the foreign ministry, police and fire authorities, departed for Nepal on Thursday and is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu that evening, the ministry said.

Doosan and the power generation company have also set up their own emergency response teams and were to dispatch field response teams to the accident site, according to corporate officials.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has said he will speak with Nepal's foreign minister and ask for cooperation.

President Lee Jae Myung has ordered the government to make every effort to search for and rescue the missing, mobilizing all available resources.

The two Korean firms are involved in the construction of the Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) hydropower plant on the Trishuli River, about 70 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu.

The 216-megawatt facility began construction in January 2022 and was scheduled for completion and commercial operation by year-end. But flood damage at the site is expected to significantly delay the project, industry watchers said.

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