Rains hamper search for missing Nepal chopper

KATHMANDU, Sep 24: Heavy rain and thick clouds hampered the search today for a helicopter chartered by conservation group WWF which disappeared in bad weather with 24 people on board, officials said.

Radio contact with the Russian-built MI-17 helicopter was lost yesterday in Taplejung district, a remote mountainous area 300 km east of the capital, Kathmandu.

Army and civilian helicopters and ground rescue teams began combing the forested hills for the aircraft which was carrying 17 Nepali nationals and seven foreigners.

''There is poor visibility due to rains and clouds that is hampering our work,'' Bimalesh Lal Karna, a search and rescue coordinator, told Reuters today.

He said five helicopters doing aerial surveys were forced to abandon the search mission until weather cleared, but search teams on foot continued to scour the forests.

A team had been dropped by helicopter near the site where the aircraft vanished and there were also about 90 army and police rescuers as well as villagers, he said.

Among the flight's 20 passengers and four crew were Nepal's Forest Minister Gopal Rai and his wife, Finnish Charge d'Affaires Pauli Mustonnen, and deputy director of the US Agency for International Development in Nepal, Margaret Alexander.

The WWF said seven of its staff were also on the helicopter, three from WWF-Nepal, two from WWF-UK and two from WWF-US. Four WWF staff were Nepali, and the others were a Swiss-Australian, a Canadian and an American.

Two of the crew were Russians.

The WWF said a taskforce formed by the Nepali government, comprising the army and police, was coordinating the search.

''Until we receive definite confirmation, WWF Nepal still holds the status of the helicopter as missing and we hope for the safe return of all on board,'' the group said in a statement on their Web site www.wwfnepal.org.

Nepal's tourism minister Pradip Gyanwali said the government would give KATHMANDU, Sep 24: Heavy rain and thick clouds hampered the search today for a helicopter chartered by conservation group WWF which disappeared in bad weather with 24 people on board, officials said.

Radio contact with the Russian-built MI-17 helicopter was lost yesterday in Taplejung district, a remote mountainous area 300 km east of the capital, Kathmandu.

Army and civilian helicopters and ground rescue teams began combing the forested hills for the aircraft which was carrying 17 Nepali nationals and seven foreigners.

''There is poor visibility due to rains and clouds that is hampering our work,'' Bimalesh Lal Karna, a search and rescue coordinator, told Reuters today.

He said five helicopters doing aerial surveys were forced to abandon the search mission until weather cleared, but search teams on foot continued to scour the forests.

A team had been dropped by helicopter near the site where the aircraft vanished and there were also about 90 army and police rescuers as well as villagers, he said.

Among the flight's 20 passengers and four crew were Nepal's Forest Minister Gopal Rai and his wife, Finnish Charge d'Affaires Pauli Mustonnen, and deputy director of the US Agency for International Development in Nepal, Margaret Alexander.

The WWF said seven of its staff were also on the helicopter, three from WWF-Nepal, two from WWF-UK and two from WWF-US. Four WWF staff were Nepali, and the others were a Swiss-Australian, a Canadian and an American.

Two of the crew were Russians.

The WWF said a taskforce formed by the Nepali government, comprising the army and police, was coordinating the search.

''Until we receive definite confirmation, WWF Nepal still holds the status of the helicopter as missing and we hope for the safe return of all on board,'' the group said in a statement on their Web site www.wwfnepal.org.

Nepal's tourism minister Pradip Gyanwali said the government would give $2,700 as reward to anyone providing information about the missing aircraft.

The helicopter left Ghunsa village at about noon 1145 IST but never arrived at its destination in Taplejung town, a 20-minute flight.

The passengers had attended the handover of a WWF project to the local community and were on the way back.

It was raining heavily in the area where the aircraft disappeared, airport officials involved in the rescue operation said. Karna said some reports suggested the helicopter could have crashed, but there was no confirmation.

''Villagers say they heard a loud noise in a gorge soon after the helicopter had left,'' Karna said.

''We have no confirmation whether it had crashed. No one has been able to reach the spot yet.'' There are more than a dozen private airlines in Nepal, which has poor roads and some of the world's highest peaks.

Eighteen people, including 13 Germans, were killed when a private airliner crashed in the hills of western Nepal in 2002.

REUTERS,700 as reward to anyone providing information about the missing aircraft.

The helicopter left Ghunsa village at about noon 1145 IST but never arrived at its destination in Taplejung town, a 20-minute flight.

The passengers had attended the handover of a WWF project to the local community and were on the way back.

It was raining heavily in the area where the aircraft disappeared, airport officials involved in the rescue operation said. Karna said some reports suggested the helicopter could have crashed, but there was no confirmation.

''Villagers say they heard a loud noise in a gorge soon after the helicopter had left,'' Karna said.

''We have no confirmation whether it had crashed. No one has been able to reach the spot yet.'' There are more than a dozen private airlines in Nepal, which has poor roads and some of the world's highest peaks.

Eighteen people, including 13 Germans, were killed when a private airliner crashed in the hills of western Nepal in 2002.

REUTERS