Helicopter crash kills five, including four Chinese nationals in Nepal

New Delhi, Aug 07:  In a helicopter crash in the mountainous region northwest of Nepal's capital claimed the lives of all five individuals on board, authorities reported. The crash occurred in the Suryachaur area, a forest-covered mountain region, resulting in the deaths of four Chinese nationals and a Nepali pilot.

Krishna Prasad Humagai, the government administrator of Nuwakot district, confirmed that police and army rescuers, along with two additional rescue helicopters, reached the crash site and retrieved the bodies of four men and one woman from the wreckage, as reported by the Associated Press.

The ill-fated Eurocopter AS350, operated by Nepal-based Air Dynasty, departed from Kathmandu International Airport at 1:54 p.m. local time, destined for the town of Syaprubeshi. However, contact with the helicopter was lost just three minutes after takeoff, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

This accident comes on the heels of a recent passenger plane crash that occurred just two weeks prior. The plane had crashed shortly after taking off from Kathmandu airport, resulting in the deaths of 18 passengers and leaving one pilot as the lone survivor.

Nepal has witnessed several air disasters in recent years, raising concerns about aviation safety in the region. In May 2022, a Tara Air flight carrying 22 people crashed into a mountainside, killing everyone on board. In February 2019, a helicopter crash near Pathibhara in eastern Nepal claimed the lives of seven people, including the country's Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari. Furthermore, in March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.

These incidents highlight the ongoing challenges Nepal faces in ensuring the safety of its aviation operations, particularly in the treacherous and mountainous terrain that characterizes much of the country.