It is very sad to learn about missing helicopter and 24 people on board on the mission of WWF. Some of them are well known to me. Let's prey for their safe return home!



Helicopter with 24 passengers including Minister Rai, WWF officials missing

By DHARMA POUDEL
(Kantipuronline.com)

TAPLEJUNG, Sept 23 - A Shree Airlines helicopter bound for Suketar from Ghunsa, Taplejung, with 24 passengers on board, went missing since Saturday morning.

Chief District Officer of Taplejung district, Hem Nath Dawadi said that the 9AN helicopter had gone out of contact this morning at around 9 while returning to Suketar from Ghunsa.

According to Dawadi, State Minister for Forest, Gopal Rai, some media persons are among those who were onboard on the missing chopper.

Minister Rai and media persons including officials from the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) had reached Taplejung to attend a function to mark the handing over of the Kanchanjunga Conservation Area to the local community.

Others on board include: Pauli Mustonen, Charge d'affaires at the Embassy of Finland, Dr. Harka Gurung, Mohan Prasad Wagle of Forest Ministry, Dr. Bijanan Acharya of USAID, Dr Jill Bowling, conservation director of WWF-UK, Dr Tirtha Man Maskey, vice-president of Asian Rhino Conservation Department, Dr. Chandra Prasad Gurung of WWF-Nepal, Dr Damodar Prasad Parajuli, acting secretary at the Ministry of Forest, Sharad Rai, director general of Department of Forest, Narayan Poudel, director general of Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, Margaret Alexander of USAID, Mingma Nurbu Sherpa of WWF-US, Jennifer Headley, WWF UK Coordinator, Eastern Himalayas, Hem Raj Bhandari and Sunil Singh of Nepal Television, AC Lama, senior programme officer of WWF Nepal, Matthew Preece, Bijay Kumar Shrestha of FNCCI, Dawa Tsering Sherpa of Kanchanjungha Conservation Area, and four crew members that include Captain Klim Kim, Saffron Vallery, Tandu Shrestha, pilot Migma Tsering Sherpa.

Two helicopters of the Nepal Army have been dispatched to carry out the search operation, officials at the Rescue Coordination at TIA said.

However, due to the "deteriorating" weather condition in the areas, rescue operation have been affected, the officials added.

Local Sherpas from Ghunsa told the authorities at Taplejung that the helicopter had taken off at 11: 30 this morning and soon after which they heard a loud noise.

prey=pray

Really a very sad news.
I pray for thier safe return.

Could have been gunned down by Maoists.

ohh...so sad to see famous name in the list....

i wish and pray for everyone onboard for their safe return. i am really PRAYING. I pray with Pashupatinath not to ruin their families' Dashain. Not a day to leave.

I am angry with the government's poor infrastructure on weather reporting. It is not funny to risk people's life and government should take this issue seriously. we already got enough to risk our economy, all with violence, corruption, lack of security, lack of law and order and what not ....... the list keeps adding.

It is time to take action now.
Eventhough the whereabouts of senior intellectuals of World Wildlife Fund(WWF) and others are still not confirmed, but it should be taken as a wake up alarm for everyone there at decision making level .

Please please and please ....... live for your country.

Like the people onboard. they were more into conserving and saving our planet. Learn from them.
POR FAVOR ................

Abstract from WWF Nepal site.
http://www.wwfnepal.org ...........

Nepal
Helicopter Missing in Kanchenjunga

23 Sep 2006
A Shree Air helicopter carrying delegates who had gone to attend the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area handover at Taplpejung are missing. The flight left this Ghunsa this afternoon at 12pm but did not arrived as per schedule (a 20 minute flight) back to Taplejung. A rescue helicopter was sent to combing the area but has returned to Kathmandu due to bad weather. Two rescue rescue teams have set on foot from Ghunsa and Taplejung.

List of persons abroad Shree Air 9NAHJ:

1. Mr. Gopal Rai, Minister of State of Forests and Soil Conservation (Nepali)
2. Mrs. Gopal Rai (Nepali)
3. Dr. Damodar Parajuli, Acting Secretary – Ministry of State of Forests and Soil Conservation (Nepali)
4. Mr. Narayan Poudel, Director General of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (Nepali)
5. Mr. Sharad Rai, Director General of Department of Forests (Nepali)
6. Mr. Pauli Mustonnen, Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of Finland (Finnish)
7. Ms. Margaret Alexander, Dy. Director, USAID (Amercian)
8. Dr. Bijnan Acharya, Program Dev. Specialist, USAID (Nepali)
9. Dr. Jill Bowling, Conservation Director, WWF UK (Australian)
10. Ms. Jennifer Headley, Coordinator, WWF UK (Canadian)
11. Mr. Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Managing Director, EHEC, WWF US
12. Matthew Preece, Program Officer, WWF US (Amercian)
13. Dr. Chandra Gurung, Country Representative, WWF Nepal (Nepali)
14. Dr. Harka Gurung, Advisor, WWF Nepal (Nepali)
15. Dr. Tirtha Man Maskey, Co-Chair, AsRSG (Nepali)
16. Mrs. Yeshi Lama, WWF Nepal (Nepali)
17. Mr. Vijaya Shrestha, Central Committee Member, FNCCI (Nepali)
18. Mr. Hem Raj Bhandari, Nepal Television (Nepali)
19. Mr. Sunil Singh, Nepal Television (Nepali)
20. Mr. Dawa Tshering, Chairperson, KCAMC (Nepali)


21. Crew 1 (Russian)
22. Crew 2 (Russian)
23. Mingma Sherpa, Captain (Nepali)
24. Tandu Shrestha (Crew) (Nepali)

I pray for the safety of everybody on board the chopper. Please God keep them alive and well. We need them .

Missing since 9 am and not found. This looks bad...

I personally know several of the passengers... and I've flown on board 9N-AHJ ...


:(

Still I think this could be the work of Maoists.

karmarana, at this point anything is possible. we don't know if it crashed or had an emergency landing somewhere (there have been several cases before of helicopters disappearing, only to be found to have landed on a river bank where they got no radio signal)....

I pray for their safe return. Its quite shocking to hear so many intellectuals missing with the helicoptor, Dr. Harka Gurung, a top geography expert, among one of them. :(

Nepal helicopter found crashed
POSTED: 0400 GMT (1200 HKT), September 24, 2006

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- A helicopter that was carrying 24 people was found crashed Sunday in a remote Nepalese village, authorities said. There was no immediate word on survivors.

The crashed helicopter was found in Nepal's eastern district of Taplejung. It was located by an army helicopter, said Hemant Kumar Uprety, a Taplejung airport worker.

A second helicopter was headed to the location to search for survivors, he said.

The helicopter went missing Saturday while traveling from the Kenchenjunga Nature Conservation Reserve to Suketar in Taplejung. The passengers were to catch a flight to Kathmandu.

Nepal's Civil Aviation Ministry said that three helicopters were searching for the missing chopper, but the operation was called off because of bad weather and poor visibility. The search resumed Sunday morning.

The helicopter, operated by Shree Air, was carrying officials from the United States Agency for International Development and the Finnish Embassy in Kathmandu.

Also aboard was Nepal's State Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Gopal Rai, his wife, and other government and conservation officials. It was chartered by the Nepal office of World Wildlife Fund.

Local radio reports, citing journalists in Taplejung district, said that the craft went missing in Taplejung in bad weather. The area is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of Kathmandu, the capital.

This is very, very sad news.

The helicopter has not been found as of Sunday night -- 36 hours after it was first reported missing.

Some of the passengers were said to have been carrying satellite phones and other communication devices; they have not contacted anyone yet, nor has anyone
been able to contact any one of them.

The Nepali group has some of Nepal's best-known names in the field of nature/wild life conservation. Dr. Harka Gurung, of course, is in a category of his own -- being a polymath that he is.

May God give their families strength to cope with the uncertainties, and may there be good news for all soon.

oohi
ashu

very very sad news.. hope they are all safe...Along with Dr. Gurung..Dr Tirtha Man Maskey the man behind perservation of ghariyal and Rhino was also on the chopper. He is the one who has struggled for many years to turn Nepal's parks into what they are today. His contribution to Nepal has made a significant impact on Nature conservation...

Let us all hope for the good news. Lets pray for miracle to happen...

Yes, this is horrific. The fact that they have satellite phones but have not established contact is not a promising sign. I recognize some of the names on the list and my thoughts are with the family members.

Does anyone know anything about what the weather was like when they took off?

Weather was definately foggy gloomy.

But

Russina Mi-17 helicopter made for army. It should not have problem unless old and expaired from Russian service.

Russian made Mi-17 helicopter

Here is 9N-AHJ about an year and a half ago... at that time it was operated by Manang Air. I don't know whether it was transferred to Shree Air, or whether the media got the registration number wrong...

And here is an interior view... was a pretty uncomfortable flight from Humde to Pokhara sitting on a bag of potatoes (the helicopter was in cargo-mode, with only 4 passenger seats installed at the time).