South Korea firm to build high-tech rescue center in Himalayas

A group of rescue workers on Friday conduct a simulated rescue mission using a drone at the Machhapuchhre base camp, which is located 3,700 meters above sea level on Annapurna mountain in the Himalayas. KT via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

SEOUL — South Korean mobile carrier KT is planning to establish a high-tech rescue center on a popular trekking course in the Himalayas to ensure the safety of those trekking the mountainous region in Nepal.

According to the Nepal government and KT last week, the telecom firm’s information and communications technology rescue center will be built at Machhapuchhre Base Camp. The mountain campsite is located at the midpoint of 8,091-meter Annapurna mountain.

Mountain climbers and rescue workers have often suffered from weak telecom signals at high altitudes in the Himalayas. KT said its rescue center will quickly pinpoint the location of tourists in distress via a long-distance wireless communication system.

“We hope that the new ICT rescue center will enable safe climbing of the Himalayas despite the region’s poor network and climate conditions,” KT Senior Executive Vice President Yoon Jong-jin said during his visit to Nepal on Wednesday.

KT’s plan to establish the rescue center in Nepal as part of the efforts to expand its telecom service in remote areas around the world. The company has been providing telecom infrastructure on many remote islands in Bangladesh since 2017.

Under the initiative called “GiGA story,” the mobile carrier has selected backward villages at home and abroad and improved their telecom system. Among the villages is Daeseongdong, a cross-border village located inside the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas.