Nepal helicopter collision kills Indian passenger at Pheriche

A Nepal helicopter collision left an Indian passenger dead and three people injured on Tuesday morning at Pheriche in Solukhumbu district, according to police accounts. Aircraft belonging to Fishtail Air and Air Dynasty were attempting to land when the accident occurred.

Police placed the incident at about 8.11 a.m. local time in Ward 4 of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality. The landing area lies along the route used by travellers heading towards Mount Everest base camp.

The passenger who died was identified by police as Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, 47, an Indian national travelling in the Fishtail Air aircraft. His body was subsequently moved to a hospital in Lukla.

Injured passenger and pilots taken for treatment

Another passenger in that helicopter, Shailesh Krishna Patel, was injured. Police described him as a New Zealand resident of Indian origin and said a Prabhu helicopter flew him to Kathmandu's Mediciti Hospital.

Two Nepali pilots were also reported injured and taken to Kathmandu for medical care. Reports gave differing details about the pilots' aircraft assignments and the injured passenger's age, so those particulars remain unclear.

The Nepal helicopter collision involved aircraft undertaking different tasks, according to the operators' accounts. A Fishtail Air representative said its aircraft carried tourists rescued from the Everest region, while an Air Dynasty representative said the other helicopter carried cargo.

Authorities had not established the complete passenger count for the two aircraft. Police said they were still assembling information about the accident, and its precise cause remained unresolved.

An aviation authority official said the aircraft approached from different directions. Helicopters serve tourists, mountaineers and rescue operations in the Everest region, where the incident occurred during the busy trekking season.

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