On 23 September 2006, a Shree Air Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashed on a chartered flight from

Phungling Phungling Municipality (previously also ''Taplejung Municipality'') is a municipality located in Taplejung District in the Province No. 1 of Nepal. The municipality was formed merging the then two Village Development Committees of Phungling and ...

Ghunsa Ghunsa () is a village of Taplejung, Nepal at elevation of 3,475 m and is a major check point for Mt. Kangchenjunga. This village came into attention after the helicopter accident that killed 24 passengers including most prominent figures in conser ...

in Eastern Nepal. The accident killed all 24 passengers and crew on board, including an expedition of

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

Aircraft

The helicopter involved with the accident was a Mil Mi-8 MTV 1.

Crew and victims

On board the helicopter was an expedition of

returning from an conservation event in

Taplejung District Taplejung District ( ne, ताप्लेजुङ जिल्ला ) is one of 77 districts of Nepal and one of the 14 districts of Province No. 1. It is remotely located in the Himalayas in Eastern Nepal with Tibet to the north across the ...

, where the

Government of Nepal The Government of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल सरकार) is the federal executive authority of Nepal. Prior to the abolition of the Nepali monarchy in 2006 (became republic in 2008), it was officially known as His Majesty's Government. T ...

handed the management of the park around

Kanchenjunga Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third List of highest mountains on Earth, highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', wh ...

to the local people. The WWF team included Chandra Gurung and

Harka Gurung } Dr. Harka Bahadur Gurung (1939–2006) was a Nepali geographer, author, and politician, known for his conservation work. Early life Gurung was born in Lamjung on 5 February 1939, in the village of Taranche. His father was a non-commissioned of ...

. Other passengers on board the ill-fated helicopter included politician

Gopal Rai Gopal Rai (born May 10, 1975) is the Minister for Environment, Forest & Wildlife, Development and General Administration in Government of Delhi under the leadership of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He is also social activist and a membe ...

Incident

The helicopter took off at 10:45 NPT on 23 September 2006. Shortly afterwards, the helicopter was declared missing. Two days later, the wreckage of the helicopter was found south-west of

. Bad weather was assumed to have caused the crash at the beginning.

Investigation

The final report on the accident the committee of the

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN, ne, नेपाल नागरिक उड्डयन प्राधिकरण, translit=Nepāl Nāgarik Uḍḍayan Prādhikaraṇ) is an independent civil aviation regulator. It was establishe ...

stated that the pilots entering cloudy areas in unfamiliar terrain as well as bad

crew resource management Crew resource management or cockpit resource management (CRM)Diehl, Alan (2013) "Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives-One Crash at a Time." Xlibris Corporation. . http://www.prweb.com/releases/DrAlanDiehl/AirSafetyInvestigators/ ...

were the main causes of the accident. It furthermore criticized the operating airline, Shree Air, on their training proceedings.

Aftermath

A day of mourning was observed throughout Nepal and schools and public offices were closed on 27 September 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shree Air Mil Mi-8 Crash, 2006 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2006 Aviation accidents and incidents in Nepal Aviation accidents and incidents caused by pilot error 2006 in Nepal Accidents and incidents involving the Mil Mi-8 2006 disasters in Nepal