Pheriche, Nepal: Two helicopters collide while landing near Everest, one dead

Two helicopters collided on approach at the helipad in Pheriche, Nepal, on Tuesday, November 3. One passenger died and three people were injured. The accident happened at around 8:11 a.m. local time on the trekking route to Everest Base Camp.

The two aircraft were landing at the same time when their rotor blades touched. A video shared on the platform X by, among others, US mountain guide Daniel Mazur shows one of the helicopters spinning and touching down in a cloud of snow. Trekking groups standing with their luggage just a few meters from the landing pad run away.

Both helicopters then lay in the snow; no fire broke out. The aircraft involved were an AS 350B3 operated by Fishtail Air, registration 9N-AJR, and an Airbus H125 (AS 350) operated by Air Dynasty, registration 9N-AOD. Both are considered to have been substantially damaged.

Passenger from India dies at the scene

The dead man is a 47-year-old Indian national from Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. He was a passenger in the Fishtail helicopter and died at the scene. According to police, his body was taken to a hospital in Lukla.

The second passenger, a 49-year-old New Zealand citizen of Indian origin, was flown by another helicopter to Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu. Both pilots were also injured.

According to the German news agency dpa, the Fishtail helicopter had one pilot and two passengers on board. The Air Dynasty helicopter was reportedly carrying only cargo.

Helicopters are a lifeline on the Everest trek

Pheriche is in the Solukhumbu district, about 150 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, at an elevation of roughly 4,200 to 4,370 meters, depending on the source. The village, on the classic Everest trek between Dingboche and Lobuche, cannot be reached by road. Helicopters bring in cargo and tourists and fly mainly rescue missions, for example for altitude sickness or exhaustion. Autumn is the peak season.

Nepal's aviation sector has long been considered high-risk: narrow valleys, high-altitude landing sites, heavy helicopter traffic during the season and limited air traffic control at small airfields. Whether such factors played a role in the accident at Pheriche is to be determined by the investigation.

Authority investigates the cause

The cause is still unclear. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is investigating. The weather was clear at the time of the accident.

On social media, there is also speculation about a lack of coordination between the pilots; there is no official finding on this. The landing site does not have a control tower in the conventional sense.

Kaman Singh Thapa Magar, the Chief Development Officer of Solukhumbu district, told the newspaper Hindustan Times that it looked like a technical problem. Police spokesman Abi Narayan Kafle said that with clear weather, "something else" must be the cause.