Nine of the 10 South Koreans isolated by flooding at a hydropower plant construction site in Nepal returned home on the afternoon of August 31, 2026. Their health conditions were checked after arrival, and reports said none appeared to have symptoms serious enough to require hospitalization.

Key Changes

The first distinction to make in this situation is between the nine people who returned home and the separate group of nine who remain unreachable.

  • Nine of the 10 South Koreans who had been isolated returned home.
  • The remaining person, the Doosan Enerbility site manager, stayed in Nepal to continue supporting the search.
  • A separate group of nine South Koreans—six Doosan Enerbility employees and three Korea South-East Power employees—was reported to be unreachable.
The nine people who returned home are not the same as the nine people who remain unreachable.

Current Status

Of the two helicopters secured by Doosan Enerbility, one took off at 2:18 p.m. Korea Standard Time on August 31 to conduct the search. The site manager said he intended to remain in Nepal to support the search for his unreachable colleagues.

The survival status and location of the nine unreachable South Koreans have not yet been confirmed. Therefore, their rescue or survival status, as well as the full scale of the damage, cannot be determined at this time.

Impact

On August 31, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Nepal’s foreign minister to cooperate in carrying out an urgent search and rescue operation for the nine South Koreans who could not be contacted. A helicopter search by the company and coordination between the two governments are proceeding simultaneously.

The key points for readers are:

  1. Nine of the 10 isolated people returned home.
  2. The site manager remained in Nepal to support the search.
  3. The results of the search for the separate group of nine unreachable South Koreans have not yet been confirmed.

Next Verification Point

Follow-up developments should be reconfirmed through official announcements from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant companies, as well as search results from the Nepalese authorities. In particular, the rescue or survival status and location of the nine unreachable people should not be stated definitively until further information is confirmed.