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Nepal intensifies search operation for missing U.S. chopper

Xinhua, May 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nepal has intensified search of U. S. military helicopter carrying six Marines and two Nepalese Army personnel that went missing since Tuesday afternoon, said a Nepali minister on Wednesday.

Speaking at a Parliament session in the Capital City Kathmandu on Wednesday, Nepali Minister for Home Affairs Bamdev Gautam informed the lawmakers that search operation of the U.S. military helicopter that went missing during a mission in Dolakha District of Nepal aid to earthquake victims is still underway.

"Search operation of the missing U.S. helicopter is still underway. A joint team of Nepali Army and the U.S. Army is closely working to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing U.S. military aircraft," the home minister said.

Talking to Xinhua, Secretary at the Nepal's Home Ministry Surya Prasad Silwal said that the U.S. aircraft might have been missing in the remote area of Dolakha District of Nepal.

According to officials at the Nepal's Home Ministry, so far there have no indications that the aircraft crashed.

Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. Pacific Command declared American Marine Corps helicopter offering quake relief in Nepal was missing with eight people on board.

The U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Major Dave Eastburn told reporters in Washington the disappearance of the UH-1Y Huey helicopter occurred at about 10 p.m. local time Tuesday near Charikot, Nepal, while the helicopter was involved in offering earthquake relief. Six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were on board.

The helicopter was last seen after another helicopter in the vicinity "picked up some (radio) chatter about a fuel problem," Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren told reporters in Washington.

An official at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "Right now, we are hopeful that there was no crash."

Charikot was one of the villages severely hit by another major quake Tuesday, about three weeks after a deadly quake which killed at least 8,000 people and injured 17,000 more.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake has hit Nepal at 12:54 and the epicenter is in Dolakha, some 130 kilometers from Kathmandu. The U. S. Geological Survey had recorded the magnitude of Tuesday's quake at 7.3.

The aircraft is part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469. There are about 300 U.S. troops in Nepal assisting with the rescue mission, using a variety of aircraft including three Hueys, four Ospreys and several cargo planes. Endi