Indian Tourist Killed as Two Helicopters Collide Near Everest
One person was killed and three others were injured when the helicopters collided while trying to land in Pheriche, Nepal, according to Nepal Police.
An Indian tourist was killed Tuesday when two helicopters collided while attempting to land at a helipad in Pheriche, Nepal, according to Nepal Police cited by ABC News. Police said three other people were injured, including both pilots.
The man who died was identified as Vasanth Kumar Balaramudu, of Chennai, India. One helicopter, operated by Fishtail Air, was returning from an Everest base camp with a pilot and two foreign passengers, police said. The other, operated by Air Dynasty, was a cargo helicopter flying from Lukla to Pheriche with only its pilot aboard.
The surviving passenger, a tourist from New Zealand, was seriously injured and airlifted to Nepal Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu, police told ABC News. The Fishtail pilot was taken to a hospital near Kathmandu, while the Air Dynasty pilot was being treated in Lukla.
The collision was captured on a livestream weather camera run by Webcam Nepal after about 8 a.m. local time. Pheriche sits at an altitude of about 4,200 meters on the route to an Everest base camp, a district police official told ABC News.