6 killed in Nepal after sightseeing helicopter crashes near Mount Everest

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Six people are dead after a helicopter carrying foreign tourists crashed near Nepal’s Mount Everest.

Nepalese authorities said the helicopter crashed in the Lamajura area on Tuesday, and rescuers have recovered the bodies of all six passengers, according to a press release. 

All five tourists were Mexican nationals and the pilot was Nepalese, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement. The Mexicans included two men and three women.

The helicopter is said to have been returning to Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu after taking the passengers on a sightseeing trip to Everest. 

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In this photograph taken on May 4, 2021, mountaineers trek along Khumbu glacier as a helicopter flies near the Everest base camp in the Mount Everest region of Solukhumbu district, some 140 km northeast of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images)

The helicopter’s original flight route had been changed due to weather conditions, according to a Nepalese official, which is common during this time of year due to monsoons and heavy rain.

The tourist and mountaineering season ended in May with the onset of the rainy season, and tourist flights to the mountains are less common this time of year as visibility is poor and weather conditions become unpredictable.

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Tents are seen set up at Everest Base Camp in 2019. (Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Rescue crews initially were not able to access the crash site on the Lamjura Pass, which sits at an altitude of 13,779 feet, Nepal Times reported.

The crash is the worst aviation disaster in Nepal since January, when 72 people, including two Americans and two U.S. permanent residents, were killed in a Yeti Airlines passenger plane crash.

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A bird flies with Mount Everest seen in the background from Namche Bajar, Solukhumbu district, Nepal, May 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.