As searches continue in hydropower plant tunnels following severe flooding in Nepal’s Rasuwa region, one body was recovered from a point approximately 300 meters inside the UT-1 tunnel. The Nepalese Army said a Chinese tunnel-rescue specialist team recovered the body, while Reuters reported that a total of three bodies had been recovered from two hydropower plant tunnels in Nepal.
However, the nationality and identity of the body found at UT-1 have not yet been confirmed. There is also no confirmed evidence that the body is one of the nine South Koreans who remain out of contact. The confirmed number of recovered bodies and the situation involving the South Korean workers who cannot be reached must be considered separately.
Key Developments
The most significant change in the situation is that an actual body has been recovered from inside the UT-1 tunnel. Search teams secured one body approximately 300 meters inside the tunnel, bringing the total number recovered to three when the other hydropower plant tunnel is included.
Regarding the South Korean workers, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that nine South Koreans could not be reached locally. They were working at the UT-1 hydropower plant construction site, where Korea Southern Power and Doosan Enerbility participated in the construction. By contrast, 10 other South Koreans who had been isolated were confirmed to have been safely rescued.
The recovery of a body has been confirmed, but its nationality and identity, as well as any connection to the missing South Koreans, have not been established.
Current Status
Nepalese rescue authorities are using excavators and controlled explosions to remove water, mud, and debris accumulated inside the tunnel. Because flooding and sediment must first be cleared to gain access, the internal search is continuing even after the body was recovered.
The search has reportedly been suspended several times depending on conditions at the site. In addition to bad weather, a newly formed lake in the border area and concerns about further collapses have been cited as variables. Accordingly, the search progress at any given point, the overall scale of Nepal’s disaster damage, and the number of missing people at each hydropower plant may change as further reports and tallies emerge.
The government response to find the nine South Koreans who remain out of contact has also entered the site-access phase. After the Nepalese government was unable to grant helicopter operating permission because of bad weather, the joint government rapid response team developed a plan to reach the site by land via Batar and Ramche and conduct a search.
Impact
This incident is a complex disaster in which searches for local workers and efforts to confirm the status of South Korean workers are taking place simultaneously. The recovery of a body from the UT-1 tunnel demonstrates the urgency of the rescue operation, but it alone cannot establish whether the nine South Koreans who remain out of contact are alive or dead.
Readers should focus on three key points:
- Whether the identity and nationality of the body recovered at UT-1 have been officially confirmed
- Whether on-site search results have emerged for the nine South Koreans who remain out of contact
- How bad weather and concerns about further collapses are affecting the search route and schedule
The nine South Koreans are known to have been working at a site where Korea Southern Power and Doosan Enerbility participated in construction. For this reason, domestic readers will be watching not only the search situation at the accident site but also the progress of cooperation among the South Korean government, the companies, and Nepalese authorities. However, based on the information publicly confirmed so far, no conclusion can be drawn about the relationship between the body found at UT-1 and the nine South Koreans.
Next Checkpoints
The first matter likely to be confirmed is the identity and nationality of the body recovered from the UT-1 tunnel. After that, important updates will include whether the joint government rapid response team traveling by land has arrived at the site, whether the search has actually begun, and whether there are additional rescues or discoveries.
The search schedule may change depending on bad weather, the newly formed lake, debris inside the tunnel, and the risk of further collapse. Therefore, rather than treating the overall damage in Nepal or the number of missing people at each plant as final figures, updates should be followed based on newly confirmed announcements from Nepalese authorities and South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In summary, three bodies have been recovered from tunnels at several hydropower plants in Nepal, including one found at UT-1. Nine South Koreans remain out of contact, while 10 other South Koreans who had been isolated were rescued. The nationality and identity of the body at UT-1 and the safety of the nine South Koreans await further searches and official confirmation.