Very bad and tragic news, it is belived that All 24 people on board, are believed dead. It is really big loss for nepal and we may have to wait many years to get such a respected conservationists.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rescue team locates downed Nepal helicopter
A search team has found the wreckage of a helicopter that disappeared in Nepal at the weekend.
All 24 people on board, including Australian conservationist Jill Bowling, are believed dead.
"The seven member rescue team found the crashed helicopter and called us. They said there were no survivors," Himesh Lal Karna, an air traffic official from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan Airport, said.
Also on board were Nepal's Forest Minister Gopal Rai, a Finnish diplomat, top World Wildlife Fund officials from Britain, Canada and the United States and Margaret Alexander - the deputy director in Nepal of the US Government's international aid arm, USAID.
Four of Nepal's most respected conservationists were also on the helicopter.
Pradeep Gyawali, Nepal's Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil aviation told AFP that the Russian-made MI-17 was "totally destroyed".
He says the wreckage was found close to Ghunsa, where it took off Saturday.
The area is a remote mountainous zone covered with thick forest and situated about 480 kilometres east of the capital Kathmandu.
The helicopter had been chartered by the WWF and was crewed by two Russians and two Nepalis.
- AFP
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chopper crash site spotted; All 24 on-board died
(news update)
In what has come as a tragic news, officials say a search and rescue team has located the crash site of the missing Shree Airlines helicopter in Southern Ghunsa in Taplejung district on Monday and that all twenty-four distinguished passengers on board have been confirmed dead.
(Photo source : myhimalayas.com)
Click here for large view.
An official at the Rescue Coordination Unit at the Tribhuvan International Airport told Nepalnews that a team of resue workers spotted the crash site some two kms south-west of Ghunsa. He quoted rescue workers as saying that one of the bodies can be identified while other bodies are badly damaged. Quoting latest reports say, he said all 24 people on board had died.
The ill-fated chopper had left Ghunsa for the district headquarters of Taplejung on Saturday morning. Local people said they had heard a big bang just five minutes after the chopper took off. The chopper has been found crashed at a height of around 10,500 ft.
The helicopter with 24 people on board including Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation, Gopal Rai, his wife, senior officials of the Forest Ministry, senior conservationists with the WWF and Kathmandu-based foreign missions was missing since Saturday morning.
Officials said four helicopters that were kept on stand-by have been sent to the area and that they are now trying to bring bodies back to Kathmandu. nepalnews.com mk Sep 25 06
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
