A helicopter carrying six people, including five Mexicans, crashed at Lamjura near Mount Everest in Nepal on Tuesday. The chopper, which lost contact 15 minutes into the flight, was coming from Surke in Solukhunvhu district, home to Mount Everest and other high mountain peaks.
“The chopper was en route to Kathmandu from Solukhumbu and got disconnected with the control tower at around 10 in the morning,” Information Officer Gyanendra Bhul was quoted as saying by ANI.
The helicopter with the call sign 9NMV got off the radar at 10:12 AM (Local Time). There were five foreign nationals and one captain on the chopper.
An Altitude Air helicopter was deployed from Kathmandu for search and rescue operation, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal tweeted.
The debris of the chopper was found at Chihandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje village. Weather conditions had caused changes to be made to the helicopter’s flight route.
This incident comes nearly six months after a Yeti Airlines plane crashed in Nepal, killing at least 71 onboard, including five Indians. The flight crashed into a gorge while attempting to land.
Passengers included 25 women, three children and as many infants. It is considered Nepal’s deadliest aviation accident in over three decades.