A midair collision of two helicopters near Mount Everest on Tuesday left one Indian tourist dead and a visitor from New Zealand and two pilots injured, according to Nepal’s civil aviation authority.
The helicopters collided as they were attempting to land in the Pheriche area of the Solukhumbu district of Nepal around 8 in the morning, the aviation authority said in a statement. Pheriche is a village at an altitude of about 13,900 feet along the Everest Base Camp trekking route.
Video of the accident showed that, in apparently clear weather, the propellers of a lower helicopter made contact with a second aircraft that had been flying higher nearby and swooped downward rapidly. Both helicopters fell to the ground not far apart and appeared to have been destroyed in the collision.
The crash cast a pall on the popular tourist destination during the autumn climbing season and highlighted the dangers that some locals and government officials have warned of as flights in the region have proliferated.
The Nepali authorities identified the dead tourist as Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, 44, of India and the injured visitor, who was being treated at a hospital in Kathmandu, as Shailesh Kisan Patel of New Zealand. The aviation authority’s statement expressed hope for a speedy recovery for the injured, including two unnamed pilots.
In a post, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu expressed “its deepest condolences on the unfortunate demise of an Indian national” and said it was working “in close coordination with Nepali authorities for early repatriation of the mortal remains of the deceased.”
The aviation authority in Nepal said it was investigating the collision and would take any actions or corrective measures needed to address potential issues. “Preliminary reports suggest miscommunication between the pilots, as the area is outside the coverage of Lukla Airport’s air traffic control tower and pilots have to communicate with each other,” Mukesh Dangol, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told The Kathmandu Post.
The perils of heavy helicopter traffic in the mountainous region are well known, and the Nepali government has struggled to strike a balance between the needs of a thriving tourism industry and the demand for better regulation to ensure safety and preservation of the natural environment.
In 2023, five visitors from Mexico and a Nepali pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed during a sightseeing trip over Mount Everest.
Local officials and those at the Sagarmatha National Park, home to Mount Everest, have clashed with government regulators over helicopter restrictions in recent years. In 2024, the park authorities said they would begin restricting helicopter sightseeing tours and some other flights in 2025, a rule that civil aviation regulators initially said the park had no authority to enforce.
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