The eight-member team including ministry officials and other personnel from the National Fire Agency, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the National Medical Center, departed in the early hours aboard a KC-330 military transport aircraft.
They will focus on reconstruction and recovery efforts for a week, with a small number of search-and-rescue personnel also joining the team to support ongoing operations.
The aircraft is carrying about 4 tons of emergency relief supplies worth approximately 180 million won (US$134,000) including tents, blankets and other necessities.
The previous team of 44 rescue workers, dispatched to Nepal on Sept. 2, will return home on Saturday after wrapping up their 10-day search-and-rescue mission. They conducted extensive searches with Nepalese authorities using drones, helicopters and other equipment, but were unable to find the missing South Koreans due to difficult terrain, unstable weather conditions and the risk of additional landslides.
Nine South Koreans including six employees of Doosan Enerbility and three from Korea South-East Power, went missing on Aug. 26 after floods and landslides struck Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the border with Tibet while they were working at a hydropower plant construction site.
As rescue workers shift their focus from search-and-rescue operations to reconstruction efforts, families of the missing workers are expressing frustration and urging authorities to continue ground searches in areas where they believe their family members may still be alive.
Government authorities here vowed to continue efforts to find the missing workers in cooperation with the South Korean Embassy in Nepal, adding that more personnel could be sent to Nepal or existing team members replaced if needed.
President Lee Jae Myung, who returned home from a trip to France the previous day, also instructed officials to listen carefully to the families and review measures to reflect their wishes as much as possible.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea sent an eight-member recovery and reconstruction team to Nepal on Sept. 11, 2026, replacing the main search-and-rescue contingent and focusing on recovery efforts during a seven-day mission.
- The KC-330 military transport aircraft carried about 4 tons of emergency relief supplies worth approximately 180 million won (US$134,000), including tents, blankets and other necessities, to support communities affected by the floods and landslides.
- Nine South Koreans remain missing after floods and landslides struck Nepal on August 26, 2026. Families are urging authorities to continue ground searches, while the South Korean government has pledged to maintain efforts to locate the missing workers in cooperation with Nepalese authorities.
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