Six rescue helicopters idle in Kathmandu as Nepal blocks flights over second flood fears

Six rescue helicopters secured by South Korea's rapid response team and the companies whose employees went missing in a major flood in north-central Nepal are sitting idle at Kathmandu's airport, waiting for flight clearance that Nepali military authorities have withheld over fears of a second large-scale flood.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters Friday that the helicopters are on standby at Kathmandu's airport, but that Nepali military authorities have refused to grant flight clearance due to concerns about a potential second major flood.

The six aircraft include three helicopters chartered by the South Korean Embassy in Nepal, two secured by Doosan Enerbility and one by Korea South-East Power (KOEN) — the companies whose employees are among the missing. The government's joint rapid response team deployed to the scene consists of six people: five rescue personnel from the National Fire Agency and one official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nine South Korean employees went missing after a massive flood struck near a hydropower plant construction site in the Rasuwa region of north-central Nepal on Wednesday morning (local time), and contact has been lost for three days as of Friday. The rapid response team is based in Kathmandu, about 70 kilometers from the Rasuwa accident site. Families of the missing have been urgently pressing the government and the companies involved to deploy search helicopters without further delay.

"Our embassy and rapid response team are continuously urging Nepali authorities to issue flight clearance as quickly as possible," the Foreign Ministry official said. "They briefly granted clearance on Thursday before withdrawing it again. We are deeply aware of how worried the families are, and we will keep pushing."

Search and rescue operations in the affected area are currently being conducted only by Nepali military and police rescue authorities under the Nepali government's control. Once flight clearance is granted and the South Korean rapid response team reaches the scene, the team plans to assess the situation and obtain specific search coordinates from Nepali authorities before launching a full-scale search.