Tourist Helicopter Crash Leaves Six Dead in Nepal

Aviation authorities reported Tuesday that all six people aboard a tourist helicopter crashed near Mount Everest in Nepal.

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"All five passengers and the pilot of the helicopter have lost their lives in the crash," Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters.

According to authorities, the Manang Air helicopter was carrying five Mexican tourists from the same family, a couple and their three children, who were sightseeing, and a Nepalese pilot. 

The helicopter lost contact with the tower 15 minutes after taking off from Surke, in the Solukhumbu district, on its way to Kathmandu, the country's capital.  Locals reported that the helicopter was found crashed in Chihandanda, Lamjura of Bhakanje village. 

"Locals and local police report that the six bodies have been recovered and are being shifted by land to helicopters so that they can be transported to Kathmandu," Tribhuvan International Airport director Pratap Babu Tiwari told reporters.

Two helicopters and several ground teams were deployed for the search and rescue mission. The aircraft was unable to land near the crash site, located about 3,300 meters above sea level, due to bad weather.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed his condolences over the tragedy, as his office reported via Twitter. On the social network, the Mexican embassy in India said it is "in continuous communication and working with Nepalese authorities regarding the tragic accident."

This is the latest in a series of aviation accidents in the Asian country. In January, Nepal suffered its worst plane crash in three decades when a plane crashed near Pokhara, killing all 72 people on board.