Authorities in Nepal have announced that they have recovered the bodies of all six victims of a helicopter crash that occurred on Tuesday, including five Mexican citizens.
This accident is the most recent in a string of flying disasters to affect the Himalayan country.
Aviation authorities said the crushed happened soon after take-off near Mount Everest. Manang Air chopper was heading for the capital Kathmandu from near Lukla, the gateway for climbing expeditions to the world’s highest peak, but lost contact about 10 minutes after taking off at 10:04 am (04:19 GMT).
Sita Adhikari, a regional official in the district of Solukhumbu, the site of the crash said, “The bodies have broken into pieces, more police have been sent to the location. Only then will we know details.”
An airport official, Teknath Sitoula, said a Nepali pilot and the five Mexican citizens were on board.
“The helicopter took off … in good weather,” said Raju Neupane, a spokesperson for Manang Air. “The weather was not bad. Now we can’t say what caused the crash. It will have to be investigated.”
Nepal is notorious for its poor aviation safety, and the latest incident comes six months after a plane went down near the tourist city of Pokhara killing all 72 people on board.
