Footage shows deadly helicopter collision on Mount Everest

Kathmandu: Graphic footage has emerged showing the moment two helicopters collided while trying to land just below Mount Everest’s base camp earlier this week, killing one person and injuring at least two others.

The collision took place in the high-altitude village of Pheriche, on the Everest trekking route in eastern Nepal, Gyanendra Bhul, deputy spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), told the London Telegraph on Wednesday AEST.

The aircraft were flown by private operators Fishtail Air and Air Dynasty. Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, an Indian national on board the Fishtail Air helicopter, died in the crash, Bhul said.

Shailesh Krishna Patel, a New Zealander, and Rabindra Pradhan, the pilot of the Fishtail Air helicopter, were injured and airlifted to Medicity Hospital in Kathmandu, the Telegraph reported.

Fishtail Air said in a statement that its helicopter was carrying passengers rescued from the Everest region when it crashed while landing.

A spokesman for Dynasty Air said its helicopter was carrying only cargo and the pilot – the only person onboard – was uninjured. The total number of people on the Fishtail Air helicopter wasn’t clear.

There are no roads on Everest, and helicopters are the only way to bring down trekkers and guides who become sick or exhausted in the cold and high altitude.

Heavy snow covered the route before the weather improved on Sunday and thousands of trekkers were able to move around.

Pheriche village lies at 4200 metres above sea level. The Mount Everest base camp trek lasts up to two weeks and runs from the area’s only airstrip, Lukla, to base camp at 5300 metres.

The trek is popular during the northern hemisphere autumn, right after the rainy season and before the harsh winter months.

AP

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