Helicopter crashes in Nepal, killing tourism chief, 6 others

KATHMANDU, Nepal — A helicopter flying in bad weather crashed into a mountain in Nepal on Wednesday, killing all seven people on board, including the country’s tourism minister, officials said.

Home Ministry spokesman Ram Krishna Subedi said rescuers had reached the crash site. The bodies of Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and his bodyguard were identified, but the other five bodies were charred, Subedi said.

Government administrator Gita Kamari Rai said it was snowing and raining when the helicopter crashed into a mountain in northeastern Nepal.

Adhikari, 49, became tourism minister in March 2018 after the Nepal Communist Party won parliamentary elections.

The rescue co-ordination office at Kathmandu airport said two smaller helicopters had made earlier attempts to land near the crash area, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. However, the poor weather conditions made it difficult.

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The helicopter belonged to Nepal-based Dynasty Air.

Binaj Gurubacharya, The Associated Press