Technical snag suspected after 2 helicopters collide near Everest Base Camp

A technical glitch may have led to the collision between two helicopters as they were about to land at a high-altitude Himalayan helipad at Pheriche in Nepal’s Solukhumbu on Tuesday, a Nepalese official said, ruling out weather as a cause.

A tourist from Chennai, Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, 47, died on the spot, and three others were injured in the collision.

“The weather was clear at that time. While details of how the crash took place will be known after investigation, it appears there was some technical glitch,” Solukhumbu’s chief development officer Kaman Singh Thapa Magar told HT.

He added that a Fishtail Air helicopter carrying two passengers from Gorakhshep (about 5164 m above sea level, near Everest Base Camp at 5364 m) collided with another Air Dynasty chopper carrying cargo at Pheriche (4371 m) at 8:11am (7:56am IST).

Magar said that Balaramaramadu died on the spot. The injured, Shailesh Krishna Patel, a New Zealand citizen of Indian origin, and Rabindra Prajapati, one of the pilots, were airlifted to Kathmandu. Prajjwal KC, the second pilot, sustained minor injuries. Videos of the crash have since gone viral.

Abi Narayan Kafle, a Nepal Police spokesperson, echoed Magar and said an investigation is underway to probe how the accident took place. “Since the weather was clear, it appears there was some other issue,” Kafle told HT from Kathmandu.

He added that the two injured are under treatment in Kathmandu and Balaramaramadu’s body is at Lukla, the closest airstrip to the Everest Base Camp region. “It will be brought to Kathmandu after formalities are completed and then handed over to the Indian authorities,” he said.

Kafle said it was unclear whether Balaramaramadu and Patel were in Solukhumbu as part of some trekking expedition or were planning to climb Mount Everest.

The trek to Everest Base Camp, from where all expeditions to the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest (8848 m), begin from the Nepal side, is one of the most popular. Hundreds of trekkers gather in the area annually.