Kin of Nepal crash victims seek redress
53 corpses unearthed from snow in Langtang
KATHMANDU: The families of five Nepalese civilians killed in a US military helicopter crash on an earthquake relief mission last month demanded compensation yesterday, saying it took weeks to get confirmation of their relatives’ deaths.
Authorities initially said six US Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were on the UH-1 Huey chopper that crashed on May 12 in Nepal’s northeastern mountains. The wreckage was found after days of intense searching.
After DNA tests and further investigation by both countries, Nepal’s army announced last Friday that five more people were on board — local villagers who were being transported to a hospital to treat injuries from the devastating April earthquake that killed thousands.
The remains of the villagers were flown back to Nepal on Sunday and were being stored at Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, where relatives of the civilian victims gathered yesterday.
“We are demanding the United States provide money as compensation or insurance to the families of those killed in the helicopter crash,’’ said Purna Bahadur Khatri, whose brother Shiva Bahadur was killed in the crash.
Ms Khatri said they will not take the remains for cremation until the issue was resolved, and if necessary protest outside the US embassy in Kathmandu.
“It took weeks for the authorities to even admit that our missing family members were killed in the crash. We have not had any contract from the US government or our government or if we are going to get compensation,’’ Ms Khatri said.
Amir Katwal, who lost his father in the crash, said he loaded his father and other people injured in the earthquake in the helicopter, which appeared to be overloaded.
“Two soldiers got off and loaded the people, and they all got inside the helicopter that had no seats and was crowded. I was just happy that my wounded father was going to a hospital,’’ said Mr Katwal.
The US relief mission was deployed after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit Nepal on April 25. A magnitude-7.3 quake struck on May 12 and hours later the helicopter crashed.
Four of the Marines were part of the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California.
Two other US marines were combat cameramen based in Japan.
The cause of t he crash has not been determined.
Meanwhile, Nepali soldiers and police have recovered the bodies of 53 trekkers and villagers buried in avalanches set off by an earthquake in April, and were digging through snow and rocks with shovels and hoes yesterday for signs of more victims.
Last month search and rescue operations were suspended Langtang, a village 60 km north of Kathmandu, as fresh avalanches buried some of the 128 bodies that had been recovered and put rescue workers in danger.
Soldiers f rom the army’s disaster response unit resumed the search after the risk from avalanches abated and recovered 53 bodies, including three foreign trekkers over the weekend, the military said.
“It is still confusing whether all these 53 bodies are new or also included those that were washed away by the avalanche after being recovered earlier,” army spokesman Brigadier General Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said.
Uddhav Bhattarai, the most senior bureaucrat of Rasuwa district where Langtang is located, said scores of soldiers, joined by police and villagers were looking for more than a dozen trekkers and Nepalis still missing since the April 25 earthquake.
Rasuwa, bordering Tibet, is one of the areas hardest hit by the earthquake and its May 12 successor, which together claimed 8,773 lives in Nepal’s worst natural disaster on record.
The two earthquakes have killed more than 8,700 people, injured thousands and destroyed many buildings.