Nepal forms 4-member committee to probe helicopter crash near Mt. Everest

The Nepal government has formed a four-member panel to probe the deadly helicopter crash near Mount Everest in the country's eastern region, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Manang Air helicopter 9N-AMV crashed on Tuesday, killing all six people on board, including five members of a Mexican family.

The probe committee is headed by Budhisagar Lamichhane, joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, according to the ministry sources.

The helicopter took off from Surke Airport in Solukhumbu district at 10.04 am for Kathmandu and suddenly lost contact at an altitude above 12,000 feet at 10.13 am.

The helicopter crashed in the Lamjura area of Likhupike Rural Municipality in the remote mountainous Solukhumbu district.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers convened at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Tuesday expressed sorrow over the loss of lives in the crash and decided to form a committee to probe it, cabinet sources said. Information Minister Rekha Sharma, also the spokesperson of the government, said,

"The helicopter carrying Mexican nationals and flown by a Nepali pilot has met with an accident. The Council of Ministers has extended heartfelt tributes to all the deceased in the accident and formed an investigation committee."

Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains.

In May, a helicopter belonging to private Nepalese helicopter service provider -Simrik Air - crashed in eastern Nepal, killing one person and leaving four others, including the pilot, injured.

In January, Nepal's Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft carrying 72 people, including five Indians, crashed in Pokhara, killing all on board.

In May 2022, all 22 people on board, including four members of an Indian family, were killed when a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district.