Nepal declines foreign rescue help

KATHMANDU - Nepal has declined foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations following a devastating flash flood that swept through several towns, according to the country's foreign ministry. This decision comes despite offers of help from various countries, including South Korea, which has dispatched a response team and will send a disaster relief team. The flood has killed nearly 500 people and left hundreds of foreign nationals missing, including South Koreans.

South Korea's foreign ministry stated that Nepal has not yet planned to accept foreign rescue teams. The ministry emphasized that Nepal's security agencies are managing the rescue efforts.

South Korea has pledged US$1 million (RM4.03 million) in humanitarian assistance through international organizations. Nine South Koreans were working at a hydropower plant, with nine missing and ten stranded.

India, China, the United States, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh had asked Nepal to allow their search-and-rescue teams to assist in the operation. Former Nepali ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Dinesh Bhattarai, suggested that the government's reluctance to accept foreign teams might be due to the sensitivity of the flood-hit Rasuwa district, which borders China's Tibet region.

However, the foreign ministry denied any connection to China's sensitivity, stating that Nepal's own rescue teams are handling the operation.