Search Continues For Missing Helicopter In Nepal
Mort Karman - All Headline News Staff Reporter Kathmandu,Nepal (AHN)- The search continues today for a missing helicopter with 24 persons aboard, which lost contact with Nepalise air traffic controlers Saturday during what was supposed to be a short, 20 minute flight to bring a group of prominent Nepalise and foreign officials from Taplejung to the Kathmandu airport. The group, which included Nepl's forest minister and his wife, the charge d'affairs and several senior members of the World Wildlife Federation, was in Taplejung to attend a cermony handing the Kanchanjunga conservation area over from the national government to local community control. "There is a very high possibility the helicopter may have crashed," said Himesh Lal Karna, head of air traffic control at Kathmandu airport. The helicopter left Ghunsa village on Saturday morning for the 20 minute flight, but failed to arrive at Suketar village, its intended destination. Ground search and rescue teams were sent out when bad weather grounded air search and rescue efforts, but they reported negative results. Several of the passengers were reported to have satellite phones, which could have contacted officials, but nothing has ben heard from the group. A Canadian woman working for the World Wildlife Federation, Jennifer Headley, of Mississauga, Ontario, is among those missing.Headly was in Nepal as WWF United Kingdom co-ordinator for Eastern Himalayas. |
