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S. Korea sends 32 more aid workers to quake-hit Nepal

May 1, 2015
Members of South Korea's Disaster Response Team raise their fists in a show of solidarity at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on May 1, 2015, before heading to Nepal to conduct relief and search and rescue operations in the earthquake-stricken country. (Yonhap)

Members of South Korea’s Disaster Response Team raise their fists in a show of solidarity at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, on May 1, 2015, before heading to Nepal to conduct relief and search and rescue operations in the earthquake-stricken country. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) — A group of South Korean aid workers departed for Nepal Friday to help ongoing rescue and aid efforts following last week’s deadly earthquake, the Foreign Ministry said.

The team, comprised of 15 search and rescue workers, 15 medics and two assistants, as well as two sniffer dogs, will join the first batch of South Korean aid workers who arrived in Nepal on Tuesday, bringing the total to 42.

The Korea Disaster Response Team will work in Bhaktapur, about 15 kilometers east of Kathmandu, and the Nepal-Korea Friendship Hospital in nearby Thimi.

Once the medics complete their mission, which is expected to last about 10 days, a team of 10 medics and two assistants will be sent to replace them.

South Korea has increased the size of its disaster response team from 40 to 54 to include more medics.

“We saw a need to send more medics as we made use of the Nepal-Korea Friendship Hospital,” a ministry official said. “We expanded the size of the team also in consideration of the demand for search and rescue operations.”

More than 6,000 people have been confirmed dead and nearly 14,000 others have been injured since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday.