A private commercial helicopter with six people aboard that went missing near the Mount Everest area in Nepal on Tuesday has crashed in hilly terrain in the country's eastern region, officials said. Out of the six people, five were Mexican nationals.
The bodies of five people and the wreckage of the chopper have been recovered. One person remains missing.
The Manang Air NA-MV chopper took off from Surke Airport in Solukhumbu district at 10:04 am for Kathmandu and it lost contact at an altitude above 12,000 feet at 10:13 am, said Gyanendra Bhul, Manager at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
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The helicopter crashed in the Lamjura area of Likhupike Rural Municipality in the remote mountainous Solukhumbu district. Villagers in the area retrieved five bodies, Koshi province's police said.
"The locals discovered the crashed helicopter at Chihandanda," rural municipality deputy chair Nwang Lhakpa was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post newspaper.
The last location of the chopper was tracked at 10:12 am in the Lamjura Pass area, said Raju Neupane, operation and safety manager of Manang Air.
A senior airport official said the exact reason behind the crash is not known yet. The rescue operation is underway and the identities of the bodies are yet to be ascertained.
The six people on board the helicopter have been identified as:
1. Captain CB Gurung - the pilot from Nepal
2. Sifuentes G. Ferando - Mexican
3. Gonzalez Abric - Mexican
4. Gonzalez Olacio Luz - Mexican
5. Sifuentes G. Maria Jose - Mexican
6. Rincon Ismael - Mexican
With agency inputs.
First Published: Jul 11, 2023 11:42 AM IST
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