Copter crashed, no survivors

Kathmandu

The US military said yesterday it expected to find no survivors after locating the wreckage of a helicopter that went missing with eight people on board in earthquake-devastated Nepal.

“I can confirm that we have located the wreckage... it is unlikely there are any survivors,” said John Wissler, commander of the joint task force investigating the disappearance, three days after the chopper vanished while delivering aid in a mountainous region.

“It was a severe crash,” said Wissler. The crashed aircraft was spotted in a remote forest around 70 kilometres (40 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, according to Nepalese army official Major General Binoj Basnet. Basnet said troops had reached the crash site on foot and two choppers, including a US military helicopter, and managed to land in the mountainous region after strong winds had kept them circling the wreckage.

Nepal’s Defence Secretary Ishwori Paudel earlier said that three charred bodies had been discovered in the wreckage, but US military officials said they could not confirm the findings. 

“We have not been able to positively identify any remains at the site,” Wissler told reporters in Kathmandu, adding that recovery operations would resume today.

“At this time I am not able to positively identify the cause of the mishap.”