South Korea dispatches 44-member disaster relief team to Nepal after floods

The team, including ministry and fire agency officials, will leave for Nepal on a military transport aircraft and work in the Rasuwa region for about 10 days.

Korea was set to dispatch a disaster relief team to Nepal on Tuesday to support search, rescue and other relief efforts following devastating floods, the foreign ministry said. The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), consisting of 44 personnel from the foreign ministry, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), fire authorities and other agencies, is scheduled to depart for Nepal aboard a Korean military transport plane later in the day, according to the foreign ministry. The team will stay in Nepal for about 10 days, conducting search and rescue operations for victims, including the nine Koreans who remain unaccounted for, it added. The massive floods and mudslides hit Nepal's north-central Himalayan region near the Nepal-Tibet border last Wednesday, killing more than 800 people and leaving around 3,000 others missing, according to foreign media reports.