Six people died after a helicopter crashed near Mount Everest
Five Mexican tourists and a Nepalese pilot died on Tuesday in a helicopter crash shortly after takeoff, Nepalese authorities announced.
The Manang Air aircraft took off from Surke, near Lukla, in the Everest region, at 10:04 am local time (1:19 am GMT) and was supposed to head to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, but lost contact 10 minutes after the start of the trip.
“Six bodies were found at the crash site,” Gyanendra Bhul of the Civil Aviation Authority told AFP.
Five Mexican tourists and a Nepalese pilot were in the helicopter, Raju Neupane, an employee of the Manang Air company, told AFP.
Nepal, a country known for aviation safety problems, recorded a plane crash in the west of its territory less than six months ago that killed all 72 people on board.
Snow-capped peaks and remote, difficult-to-access tracks are a challenge for even the most seasoned riders.
The climate, very unstable in Nepal, is also an important risk factor, as well as the lack of maintenance of the tracks and the little training of local pilots.
The European Union (EU) has banned Nepalese airlines from entering its airspace.
ANI/AFP/G1/GNI
