Kathmandu, Nepal — All five people aboard a helicopter were killed when it crashed Wednesday in the mountains northwest of Nepal’s capital, authorities said.
The bodies of four men and a woman were pulled from the rubble, said Krishna Prasad Humagai, government administrator of Nuwakot district.
Police and army rescuers reached the area and two rescue helicopters were also sent to assist in the operation, the official said.
The accident site is located in the Suryachaur area, just northwest of Kathmandu, and on a forest-covered mountain.
The helicopter took off from Kathmandu International Airport at 1:54 p.m. local time and was heading towards the city of Syaprubeshi.
The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 from Nepal-based Air Dynasty, had lost contact with the tower just three minutes after takeoff, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
The four passengers are Chinese nationals and the pilot is a Nepali, authorities said.
The accident occurred two weeks after a passenger plane crashed just after taking off from Kathmandu airport, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot, who was the only survivor.
All people on board the Saurya Airlines flight, including the co-pilot, were Nepalis except for one passenger, who was a Yemeni national.
A government investigation has been ordered into the crash of the Bombardier CRJ 200 plane, which was en route to Pokhara, Nepal’s second most populous city, for maintenance work. Most of the passengers on board were mechanics or airline employees, airport officials said.
The pilot with eye injuries has returned home from a hospital.
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