Only one survives as Nepal chopper crashes in dense forest, 6 dead
The helicopter lost contact with the Kathmandu air traffic control shortly after taking off from Gorkha district in central Nepal.
One among passenger in a helicopter with seven people onboard which crash-landed in the forest area bordering Dhading and Nuwakot districts in central Nepal on Saturday has survived, authorities said.
“Six passengers, including a Japanese national, died after a chopper with 7 people aboard crashed in Nepal. One female passenger has been rescued,” Chief District Officer of Nuwakot District, Uddab Bahadur Thapa said.
A Nepal Army helicopter and a private chopper along with rescuers was despatched to the crash site.
The helicopter which took off for Kathmandu airlifting a patient along with other passengers from Samagaun in Gorkha had lost radio contact with Kathmandu air traffic control after flying some 20 miles at around 8:10 am, a source at Tribhuvan International Airport said. A Japanese trekker was among the passengers.
Eyewitnesses later said the helicopter crash-landed in the forest area bordering Dhading and Nuwakot districts.
Earlier, the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said the chopper had been spotted in Satyawati inside a dense forest but bad weather had hampered initial rescue operations.
The wreckage of the ill-fated chopper piloted by senior captain Nishchal K C was spotted by locals in a remote location in Nuwakot district, said Nima Nuru Sherpa, Managing Director at Altitude Air Pvt Ltd, the Himalayan Times reported.
“Rescuers have been struggling hard to reach the accident site,” Sherpa said. He added that the crashed chopper had not caught fire.
