Nepal helicopter carrying six, including five Mexican nationals, crashes; all dead

The Manang Air helicopter, which went missing near Mount Everest in Nepal with six people on board, crashed at Lamjura of Likhupike Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu district on Tuesday and the bodies have been recovered. Initial media reports indicated that all foreign nationals on board were Mexicans.

“The helicopter has been found at the border of Likhu PK village council and Dudhkunda Municipality-2 commonly called Lamajura Danda. The villagers have retrieved the five bodies,” Koshi province police DIG Rajeshnath Bastola told news agency ANI. The helicopter seems to have hit a tree on the hilltop, the police said.

“Identities of the retrieved bodies are yet to be ascertained,” Bastola added.

The Kathmandu Post reported the area lies between Lukla and Phaplu. Citing the rural municipality deputy chair Nwang Lhakpa Sherpa the outlet reported that locals have informed that the chopper was found crashed at Chihandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje village.

“The chopper was en route to Kathmandu from Solukhumbu and got disconnected with the control tower at around 10am,” information officer Gyanendra Bhul earlier said. The helicopter with the call sign 9NMV got off the radar at 10:12am (Local Time).

"...Total persons on board: 6 (5 passengers + 1 captain). Altitude Air helicopter departed from Kathmandu for search and rescue," tweeted the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The helicopter was operated by the private company Manang Air based in Kathmandu, and was taking five foreign tourists from the mountainous Solukhumbu district in eastern Nepal to the capital Kathmandu.

The helicopter was piloted by senior captain Chet Gurung, the Himalayan Times reported, citing sources from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.

A detailed report is yet to come as a rescue operation is underway, said a senior official at TIA.

The official said the locals have informed him that the helicopter crashed with a loud explosion and they saw fire at the crash site.

Local police have been mobilised in the area. Two helicopters sent earlier to locate the crash site had to return due to bad weather, the senior airport official said, adding that the exact reason behind the crash is not known yet.

According to MyRepublica news portal citing sources, the bodies of five of the six people on board the helicopter were found at the crash site.

Earlier, TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula told My Republica news website, "It has been reported that the helicopter of Manang Air is out of contact, there is no contact with the tower when it reached the Lamjura pass, it was reported that the helicopter only received a 'hello' message on Viber, the search is underway”.

What we know about Manang Air

Founded in 1997, Manang Air is a helicopter airline based in Kathmandu. It has been operating helicopters in commercial air transportation within the Nepalese territory under the Regulation of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The company provides chartered services and is focused on personalised services such as adventure flights helicopter excursions or expedition work.

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