Five dead, one missing in Nepal helicopter crash

Kathmandu, July 11 (IANS) Nepal Police on Tuesday announced that a helicopter which went missing while flying to Kathmandu from Solukhumbu district earlier in the day, has crashed, killing five people on board, while one person remained unaccounted for.

The Manang Air helicopter crashed at the Lamjura area in Likhupike Rural Municipality, the police said.

The area lies between Jiri and Phaplu, near Mount Everest.

Niranjan Basnet, a junior police officer who is stationed at the crash site, said the five bodies have been found and a search operation is on to find the sixth missinng person.

Raju Neupane, the operations and safety manager at Manang Air, said the six people on board comprisedCaptain Chet Bahadur Gurung and five Mexican nationals.

According to rural municipality deputy chair Nwang Lhakpa Sherpa, locals discovered the crashed chopper.

The last location of the chopper, with the registration number 9N-AMV, was tracked at 10.12 a.m. in the Lamjura Pass area , said Neupane.

The helicopter was originally heading to Lukla near the Mount Everest base camp but could not land due to bad weather.

Then the helicopter landed in Surke, Solukhumbu, following which it was headed to Kathmandu.

--IANS

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