Kathmandu - Three people were killed and three others were
injured Sunday when a small plane crashed into a helicopter while
taking off from an airstrip near Mount Everest, according to Nepalese
authorities.
The Simrik Air plane was taking off from Tenzing-Hillary Airport in
Lukla, the gateway to Everest, when it hit a Manang Air helicopter
parked on a helipad, said police spokesman Uttam Raj Subedi.
"The co-pilot and a policeman died at the crash site. Another police
officer died in a hospital in Kathmandu," he said.
The plane's pilot, the helicopter's pilot and a Manang Air worker
were among the injured, he said. They were flown to Kathmandu for
medical treatment, he added.
Four passengers on board the plane were unhurt.
The police were part of the tourist police deployed to the area, he
said, adding that the wounded and dead were all Nepalese.
Hundreds of foreign climbers head to the mountain region in April to
climb Mount Everest during the commercial expedition season, which
lasts until May.
The airport, named after the two men who were the first to summit the
8,848-metre peak, is located at 2,843 metres above sea level and is
considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world to reach.
Last month, seven people, including the country's tourism minister
were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Nepal.
In March last year, 50 people, including 23 Bangladeshi nationals,
were killed when a US-Bangla plane crashed and burst into flames
while landing at Kathmandu's international airport.