Nepal: Helicopter with six people on board crashes

A helicopter with six people on board has crashed near Mount Everest in Nepal, local media reports said.

Reports said earlier that contact with the Manang Air helicopter, that took off from Surki in the Solukhumbu district bound for the capital Kathmandu, was lost 15 minutes after its departure on Tuesday morning.

The helicopter was carrying five foreign tourists and a Nepali pilot, government officials told news agencies.

Officials said that rescuers have recovered five bodies and a search is on for the sixth.

Locals informed that the chopper was found crashed at Chihandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje village, the Kathmandu post cited a rural municipal official as saying.