Nepal says search teams have found the wreckage of a US military helicopter that disappeared on a mission to deliver aid to earthquake victims. Six
Nepal says search teams have found the wreckage of a US military helicopter that disappeared on a mission to deliver aid to earthquake victims.
Six US Marines and two Nepali soldiers were on the aircraft which crashed on a mountainside, reportedly near the village of Kalinchowk, east of the capital Kathmandu.
Three charred bodies were found in the wreckage of the UH-1Y Huey that went missing on Tuesday, Defence Secretary Ishwori Prasad Paudyal told Reuters.
“The search for others is continuing. As the helicopter has broken into pieces and totally crashed, there is no chance of any survivors,” Paudyal said, relaying information from the Nepali army.
As the country struggles to recover from two earthquakes, the US has sent its own team to the crash site to confirm the reports.
Some 8,199 people died in the first quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, on April 25. A second 7.3 magnitude quake on Tuesday killed at least 117 more.
Many victims are from the Dolakha district, east of Kathmandu, where the US helicopter was lost.
The combined toll is approaching the number of just over 8,500 who died in an earthquake in 1934, the worst ever natural disaster to hit the poor Himalayan nation.