Two helicopters collide at Everest Base Camp in Nepal: Indian tourist killed, New Zealander rescued

Two helicopters collided as they prepared to land in the Everest Base Camp area of Nepal's Solukhumbu district on Tuesday, 3 November, killing an Indian national and injuring a New Zealander, who has been rescued, Dawn reported citing Reuters.

What happened

• Fishtail Air helicopter: carrying passengers who had been rescued from the Everest region. The company said it "crashed while landing". A Fishtail official said the Indian and New Zealand passengers were tourists.
• Dynasty Air helicopter: carrying cargo only, a Dynasty Air official said.
• Confirmed by: Kaman Singh Thapa Magar, chief district officer of Solukhumbu, who told Reuters about the rescue and the location.

Neither company has said how many people were on each aircraft, and the cause of the collision has not been given.

Peak season traffic

The crash came in Nepal's autumn peak trekking season, from roughly October to November, when helicopters run constantly between Lukla, the Khumbu villages and Base Camp. They fly trekkers out when they fall ill with altitude sickness, carry supplies up and take tourists on sightseeing landings, often onto small, crowded landing spots at about 5,300 metres.

It is the second deadly helicopter accident in the region in a week. Six people, five passengers and the pilot, died when a helicopter flying from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed in India's Uttarakhand state last week, the state's civil aviation authority confirmed.

For Pakistani trekkers

Pakistanis heading to Nepal for the Everest Base Camp trek should check that their travel insurance covers helicopter evacuation above 5,000 metres, since rescue flights are billed in dollars and can cost thousands. Our currency converter shows what a dollar quote comes to in rupees.