Kathmandu A helicopter crashed in Nepal Wednesday, carrying seven people, including Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari. The accident happened in Tehrathum district. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has confirmed the death of all seven people including the minister.
External affairs secretary Prem Kumar Rai told that in addition to the Rabindra Adhikari in the helicopter, the secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yubaraj Dahal, a prominent aviation and hospitality entrepreneur, Tsering Sherpa, security personnel Arjun Ghimire, Birendra Shrestha and another person were on board.
The tourism minister and other officials were on their way to the Pathibhara temple after attending a programme at Chuhan Danda in Panchthar.
Nepal Police spokesman Uttam Raj Subedi said that the helicopter was flying in the hilly areas of Nepal. Shortly after taking off, it broke contact with the tower located in Kathmandu and the incident happened. Seven people had boarded the helicopter. Rescue team was searching for the helicopter debris, but due to bad weather the search operation was hindered. The helicopter was of Air Dynasty. The spot where the incident took place, is about 400 km from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
Last year on March 12, in Nepal a US-Bangladeshi aircraft faced the similar incident where 51 people lost their lives. With 67 people, this flight was en routing to Dhaka from Kathmandu. The plane slipped from the runway near the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and went into the football field, after which a fire broke out in the plane.
With some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks Nepal’s airports have always been posing challenges for even accomplished pilots frequently.
