Six dead as helicopter carrying foreign tourists crashes near Mount Everest in Nepal
A helicopter carrying Mexican tourists has crashed near Mount Everest in Nepal, officials said, killing all six people on board.
A search operation was launched after the aircraft disappeared off radar at 10.12am local time, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said, with rescue helicopters dispatched to the scene.
Authorities later said a crash site had been discovered and the bodies of five passengers and one pilot retrieved, as they released the names of those killed.
The helicopter was returning from a sightseeing trip near Everest when it crashed in the Lamajura area of Likhupike Rural Municipality in the remote Solukhumbu district.
The helicopter was operated by the private company Manang Air based in Kathmandu, and was returning to the Nepalese capital when the crash occurred.
The helicopter was piloted by senior captain Chet Gurung, the Himalayan Times reported, citing sources from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.
There were five Mexicans nationals, including two males and three females, along with a Nepalese pilot on board.
The reason for the crash was not yet known and Nepal’s civil aviation regulator said the government would set up a committee to investigate.
Describing the graphic conditions in which the bodies were retrieved, Sita Adhikari, a regional official in the district of Solukhumbu, said: “The bodies have broken into pieces.
“More police have been sent to the location. Only then will we know details,” he said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said it dispatched an Altitude Air helicopter from Kathmandu to search for the missing aircraft.
Manang Air helicopter 9N-AMV (AS 50) which departed from Surke (Solukhumbu) to Kathmandu at 10:05 local time is out of contact.
Total persons on board: 6
(5 passengers + 1 captain).
Altitude Air helicopter departed from Kathmandu for search and rescue.— Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (@hello_CAANepal) July 11, 2023
Weather conditions earlier in the day had caused the pilot to make changes to the helicopter’s scheduled route, airport official Sagar Kadel said.
A spokesperson for Manang Air said: “The helicopter took off ... in good weather.”
“The weather was not bad. Now we can’t say what caused the crash. It will have to be investigated.”
It is common in Nepal for flights to be delayed or change routes at the last minute during the monsoon season, when the Himalayan region witnesses heavy rainfall.
The incident comes months after a Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft carrying 68 passengers and four crew members crashed on 15 January, killing 71 people on board in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.
The flight that departed from Kathmandu plummeted into a gorge while on approach to land at the newly opened Pokhara International Airport. It cruised at 12,500 feet and was on a normal descent before the accident.
Foreign tourists travel in large numbers to the South Asian country during the mountaineering season, either to enjoy the Himalayan ranges or to attempt the world’s highest peak. The spring trekking season ends in May, with the onset of the rainy season.
Tourist flights to the mountains near Everest are not common at this time of year as visibility gets poor and weather conditions become unpredictable.
