Kathmandu: A private commercial helicopter carrying Mexican tourists crashed on Tuesday near Mount Everest in eastern Nepal, killing all six people on board, including five members of a family, in the latest aviation accident in the Himalayan nation.
The Manang Air helicopter 9N-AMV took off from Surke Airport in Solukhumbu district at 10:04 am for Kathmandu and suddenly lost contact at an altitude above 12,000 feet at 10:13 am, said Gyanendra Bhul, Manager at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
The helicopter crashed in the Lamjura area of Likhupike Rural Municipality in the remote mountainous Solukhumbu district.
TIA spokesperson Tkeknath Sitaula said all six bodies were found at the crash site during a search operation.
They were returning to Kathmandu from Surke after enjoying a mountain flight. The flight was conducted from Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest, Sitaula said.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), all five tourists were Mexican nationals and the pilot was Nepalese Captain Chet Bahadur Gurung.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ paid tributes to the victims of the crash, saying the incident has shocked the country.
Nepal’s tourist and mountaineering season ended in May. The flights carrying tourists to the mountains are less common this time of year as visibility is poor and weather conditions fickle.
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.
Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains.
In May, a helicopter belonging to private Nepalese helicopter service provider -Simrik Air – crashed in eastern Nepal, killing one person and leaving four others, including the pilot, injured.
In January, Nepal’s Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft carrying 72 people, including five Indians, crashed in Pokhara, killing all on board.
In May 2022, all 22 people on board, including four members of an Indian family, were killed when a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district.
PTI

Press Trust of India