Copter search continues in Nepal
More than a day after a Marine helicopter disappeared in flight over Nepal, a search and rescue effort has found no sign of the missing aircraft and its crew of six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese soldiers, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
“The search continues,” said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
The official update dashed hopes raised by an earlier report from a German news agency that suggested officials had determined the helicopter’s location.
“There are a lot of reports floating around, none are attributed to anyone and most have been investigated by DoD and determined to be fake,” Army Maj. David Eastburn, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said in an email to Military Times, referring to the Department of Defense.
Also Wednesday, authorities and rescue workers in Nepal resumed the search for survivors of Tuesday’s deadly earthquake — the second to strike in the country in just a few weeks.
Thousands of people spent the night outdoors after Tuesday’s magnitude-7.3 earthquake killed at least 79 people and injured more than 2,300.
Many of the injured were re- ported to be stranded in villages, and landslides have cut off access to some locations.
Officials with bullhorns walked through the small town of Chautara, where dozens of buildings are reported to have collapsed, telling residents: “There is danger!” and “Leave the buildings!”
The latest disaster followed a magnitude-7.8 earthquake on April 25 that killed more than 8,000 people and injured 17,000.
The aerial search for the missing helicopter was halted after sundown Wednesday.
The Huey helicopter disappeared Tuesday during a mission in a remote mountainous region in Nepal. Another helicopter in the area “picked up some (radio) chatter about a fuel problem,” Warren said Tuesday shortly after the aircraft was reported missing.