Weather hampers search for missing helicopter

Fresh rainfall and fog cover over mountains in eastern Nepal was hampering rescuers today as they searched for a helicopter reported missing with 24 people on board, officials said.

Those on board the missing helicopter chartered by conservation group WWF included a Nepalese minister, a Finnish diplomat and several Western aid workers.

Nepal’s Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Pradeep Gyawali said rescue helicopters flew to the area but the weather conditions had forced them to return to nearby airports and security camps by midday.

Gyawali said the helicopters would resume the search as soon as the weather improves over the mountain region, which is covered with thick forests.

Gyawali said a team of 90 soldiers and policemen have also been sent to the area on foot to assist another ground team already there.

The passengers included Nepal’s Forest Minister Gopal Rai and his wife, the Finnish Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires Pauli Mustonnen and Deputy Director of USAID in Nepal Margaret Alexander.

WWF said in a statement that seven of its employees were among the missing, including four Nepalis, an Australian, a Canadian and an American.

Several Nepali journalists, government officials and two Russian crew members were also on board.

The helicopter left Ghunsa village on Saturday morning but failed to arrive at Suketar village, its intended destination, a 20-minute flight away.

Both villages are in the Taplejung district, about 310 miles east of Nepal’s capital, Katmandu.

“We hope that all on board will be rescued safely,” WWF International’s Director General James Leape said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with our missing colleagues and their families and WWF is doing everything it can to help the government of Nepal in its search for the helicopter.”

The Russian-built MI-17 helicopter was chartered from Shree Helicopter Co., company officials said.