DELAY IN SEARCH OPERATIONS

[Anchor Lead]

One of the siblings who went missing during the recent downpour in the country’s central region was found dead. Most of the missing people had either fallen into a manhole or disappeared in underground parking lots. It hasn’t been easy to search for them or get draining equipment.

[Pkg]

On the night of August 8th when the entire Gangnam area in Seoul was flooded. A man in his 40s went missing in a building in Seocho-dong. It appears he went down to check on his car in the underground parking lot but couldn’t escape from the incoming water. Water must be drained out before a search can begin. Rescue workers conduct search operations after draining water one floor at a time. It's hard to tell how long such a floor-by-floor search operation would take. If it had been any other water accident, divers would have been deployed, but that isn’t an option for underground parking garages.

[Soundbite] Jo Hyeon-jun(Seocho Fire Station Spokesperson) : "Vehicles are so chaotically scattered underground that we haven’t been able to start working."

Another person went missing in an underground shopping mall inside a different building in Seocho-dong. Although not included in the official tally, one more individual is presumed to have gone missing, this time in the underground parking lot of the KOTRA building. Search efforts are delayed at all these locations due to the drainage problem. Large-volume draining equipment is needed, but such machines are not readily available for both public and private sectors.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kong Ha-sung(Woosuk Univ.) : "Since such equipment is used only once in a while, there was generally no need to keep them. They have to find a way to utilize every available option including the privately-owned drainers."

One of two siblings who had gone missing in a sewer, the 40-something brother, was found dead. His body was discovered at another manhole 1.5 kilometers away from where he had disappeared.