‘Chopper crashed a minute after take-off’

Panchthar, February 27

As soon as they heard that Minister Adhikari was coming to the Pathibhara shrine, local youths had gained the shrine nestled on the hilltop to get a view of the visiting minister. The sky was overcast from the early morning, and it had started raining and there had been light snowfall from 10:00 am.

“As the weather had turned unfavourable, we doubted the minister would come. But amidst our doubt, a helicopter flew in, carrying him and others,” said Surendra Limbu, an eye-witness, who was found at the Pathibhara shrine today.

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari speaking at a programme in Aathrai, Tehrathum, before the helicopter that he boarded crashed due to foul weather, on Wednesday, February27, 2019. Photo: THT

According to Limbu, Adhikari and his team had landed at the shrine at about 12:45 and stayed there for half-an-hour.

“As the copter was taking off, the minister waved at us, but just a minute after the take-off the helicopter ploughed into Tarebhir of Mayam Danda at Lingkhim in Phaktanglung Rural Municipality,” Limbu said.

Residents of Pathibhara area waited in apprehension of something dreadful.

They heard a loud sound and saw a whiff of smoke in the sky.

“It took us one-and-a-half hours to reach Mayamdanda, where we found the crashed chopper,” said Upanath Poudel, an assistant health worker at the local health facility.

“By the time we reached there, Adhikari and six others had all died and all but the tail of the helicopter had burnt,” recounted Poudel, who said the rescue team could not reach the site given the difficult terrain at the incident site.

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