Advertisement
Advertisement
Nepal earthquake 2015
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more

Update | Eight bodies found near wreckage of US helicopter on Nepal quake aid mission

Nepalese troops today found the bodies of all eight people from the wreckage of a US helicopter which crashed while delivering aid in the quake-devastated country.

AP

Nepalese troops today found the bodies of all eight people from the wreckage of a US helicopter which crashed while delivering aid in the quake-devastated country.

The UH-1Y Huey was carrying six US Marines and two soldiers from the Nepalese army when it went missing during a relief flight in the mountainous northeastern region on the same day that a second quake hit the country.

“Nepalese and US troops recovered all eight bodies from the crash site this  morning,” major general Binoj Basnyat said by phone.

“None of the bodies are recognisable,” Basnyat said.

Teams from the US military and the Nepal army were investigating the wreckage to determine the cause of the crash, Basnyat said.

"The wreckage of the helicopter was found in pieces and there are no chances of any survivors," Nepal's Defence Secretary Iswori Poudyal said earlier, adding that the remains were charred.

Army helicopters and hundreds of US and Nepalese ground troops had been deployed to scour the mountainous region where the chopper disappeared. 

Three days after it went missing, Nepalese troops on Friday spotted the aircraft in a remote forest around 70  kilometres northeast of Kathmandu and 24 kilometres from the town of Charikot, hard-hit by a second quake in Nepal. 

Relief teams from around the world have been working for weeks to provide  water, food, shelter and medical assistance to Nepal after the first quake hit on April 25.

Nearly 8,500 people have now been confirmed dead in the disaster, which  destroyed more than half a million homes and left huge numbers of people  without shelter with just weeks to go until the monsoon rains.

A separate team sent by the US Marines also said they identified the wreckage as the missing helicopter.

"The assessment of the site is ongoing and a thorough investigation will be conducted," a statement from the Marine-led joint task force said.

The US relief mission was deployed soon after the disaster, killing more than 8,200 people. It was followed by another magnitude 7.3 quake on Tuesday that killed a further 117 people and injured 2,800.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Rescuers find three bodiesnear US copter wreckage
Post