US Helicopter Goes Missing As Second String Earthquake Hits Nepal

After the second powerful earthquake to hit Nepal in less than a month, hundreds of soldiers searched for a US Marine helicopter that went missing amid the disaster. The US helicopter, which had six US Marines and two Nepali soldiers on board, was in Dolakha to deliver aid.

The country is still picking up the pieces from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25 that killed over 8,000 people and injuring nearly 20,000. The US Marine Corp Huey was dealing with fuel issues before it lost radio contact.

A military official of the Himalayan country said the helicopter may have landed in one of the rivers along the valleys of Dolakha, which is located east of Kathmandu. Assisting the ground troops in the search for the missing aircraft were six helicopters.

Major Rajan Dahal said information they received gave indications that the helicopter may have went down in one of the rivers. But, it has yet to be spotted by the choppers. He added that over 400 ground troops were looking for the aircraft. Even as there were no traces of the missing helicopter, the search may have diverted resources that could be used for rescue and relief operations, Home Ministry official Laxmi Prasad Dhal said.

She said the search has delayed relief operations in the country. The 7.3 earthquake on Tuesday killed 67 people and destroyed numerous houses in the area. A good number of deaths during the earthquake on Tuesday were from villages and towns that are only starting to recover from the earthquake last month.

Second Earthquake Hits Nepal - image credit: cnn.com

The most recent earthquake forced many Nepalis to stay outside in relief camps. Dolakha district assistant administrator Aula Bahadur Ale said 36 people perished in and around Charikot, the capital of the district. The earthquake also injured 106 people.

Ale said houses that remained standing started to develop cracks, and people did not want to stay inside them. The area is still affected experiencing aftershocks.

A Kathmandu police official revealed that 1,928 people were injured during the earthquake in Tuesday. The same quake also resulted to 17 deaths in India. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake last April. It also set off an avalanche on Mount Everest that resulted to the death of 198 climbers.

Large areas of the country became unstable due to the earthquake, which resulted to concerns of more landslides during the upcoming monsoon season.

Majority of the open spaces in Kathmandu were occupied by residents who stayed under tarpaulins to protect them from the elements. Most Nepalis are afraid of staying indoors as they started to live out in the open.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday May 13 2015, 2:52 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0