World News | Nepal forms four-member committee to investigate helicopter crash near Mount Everest

KATHMANDU, July 12 (PTI) The Nepalese government has formed a four-member team to investigate a deadly helicopter crash near Mount Everest in the eastern region of the country, authorities said on Wednesday.

All six people on board, including five members of a Mexican family, were killed when a Manang Air 9N-AMV helicopter crashed on Tuesday.

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According to sources in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, the inquiry committee is headed by Budhisagar Lamichane, joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation.

The helicopter took off from Surk Airport in Solukhumbu district for Kathmandu at 10:04 am and lost contact suddenly at 10:13 am at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet.

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The helicopter crashed in the Ranchoura area of ​​Likupik Rural Municipality, Solukhumbu District, in the remote mountainous area.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers at Sinha Durbar’s Prime Minister’s Office and Council of Ministers on Tuesday expressed condolences for the casualties in the crash and decided to form a committee to investigate, Cabinet sources said. Information Minister and Government Spokesperson Rekha Sharma said:

“The helicopter piloted by the Nepali pilot carrying the Mexican citizens had an accident. The Council of Ministers expresses its heartfelt condolences to all those who died in the accident and established a commission of inquiry.”

Aviation accidents in Nepal are frequent, in part due to sudden changes in the weather and the fact that airstrips are located in inaccessible rocky terrain.

In May, a helicopter belonging to Nepalese private helicopter service provider Simrik Air crashed in eastern Nepal, killing one person and injuring four others, including the pilot.

In January, a Nepalese Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 passenger plane carrying 72 people, including five Indians, crashed in Pokhara, killing all on board.

In May 2022, a plane of Tara Airlines crashed in the Mustang area in the mountains of Nepal, killing all 22 people on board, including four members of the Indian family.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a syndicated news feed, the latest staff may not have revised or edited the body of content)