14 DAY TRIAL // This past Tuesday, a US Marine Corps helicopter carrying a crew of eight went missing in Nepal. Search and rescue troops are now out looking for it, and so the aircraft should soon be tracked down.
For the time being, the reason the helicopter lost contact with base remains unclear. Still, reports say that, just before the aircraft vanished without a trace, the six US and two Nepal soldiers aboard were heard talking about having some fuel trouble.
In an interview, Major Rajan Dahal said that the helicopter might have crash landed in a river close to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital city. It is in this area that troops are searching for the aircraft and its crew.
“The info we have is that it is down in one of the rivers, but none of the choppers has seen it yet. There are 400-plus of our ground troops looking for it also, by this evening, we might get it,” said Major Rajan Dahal, as cited by IBT.
Apart from ground troops, military officials ordered that two helicopters be sent to conduct an aerial search of the supposed area of the crash. Still, the missing US Marine aircraft is yet to be discovered.
The missing helicopter was involved in relief work
On April 25, Nepal was hit by a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that pushed the ground around Katmandu upwards by about 1 meter (roughly 3 feet). As a result, buildings came crumbling down and thousands of people were buried under piles of rubble.
Latest reports put the death toll for this devastating April 25 tremor at over 8,000. What's more, it was just yesterday that yet another 7.3-magnitude shake rattled the country. This second major earthquake claimed its own victims.
The US Marine helicopter that is now missing in Nepal was involved in relief work at the time when communication with base was cut off. Thus, it was helping evacuate wounded people and delivering supplies to survivors in regions close to Kathmandu.