Nepali helicopter crashes with no casualties

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-30  |     ONLINE EDITION

A HELICOPTER crashed yesterday in western Nepal, but luckily without casualties reported.

The helicopter, owned by a Nepali company named Fish Tail Air with the code number KN-9-AIA, carried tourists to the Annapurna (some 8,000 meters high) Base Camp in Kaski district, some 180 km west of the Nepali capital Kathmandu, yesterday morning.

The helicopter crashed when fetching at least three tourists back to the Kaski district headquarters Pokhara, the international tourism hub of Nepal, some 140 km west of Kathmandu.

At local time 1145 (0600 GMT), the helicopter fell into an around-two-meter pond after just few minutes into the air as its back portion had been partially damaged after hitting the ground during takeoff at a place called Sanokunda, a Pokhara airport official said.

A local tourist guide named Prakash Thapa trekking three hours from the accident site in remote mountain areas, telephoned the Pokhara Airport that at least three French tourists, one Nepali tourist guide and one crew member were on board.

The passengers and the crew member only sustained minor injuries and after being treated in a local hospital, they have been brought back to Pokhara by a Nepali army helicopter, a latest report from local Kantipur FM radio station said.