The U.S. military says it has found the wreckage of a Marine Corps helicopter that crashed in Nepal while taking part in earthquake relief efforts, and that “it is unlikely that there are any survivors.”
Lieutenant General John Wissler said in Kathmandu Friday he could not yet positively identify the cause of the crash or the identities of any remains, but he confirmed that six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were onboard.
Nepal’s Defense Ministry said earlier Friday that the wreckage of the helicopter, which disappeared Tuesday, had been spotted in a mountainous area of east-central Nepal. It said it was not possible for anyone onboard to have survived. The Nepalese defense secretary ((Iswari Prasad Poudel)) told reporters three charred bodies had been recovered at the accident site and the search for the others was ongoing.
Lt. Gen. Wissler said the wreckage was found “in extremely dense forest and exceptionally rugged terrain.”
Wissler praised the service members for their sacrifice and courage, calling them “selfless individuals dedicated to the international humanitarian aid mission” in Nepal.
“They were determined to go forward with their duties, eager to contribute to our mission and to alleviate suffering and to come to the rescue of those in need,” Wissler told reporters Friday.
He reiterated the U.S. commitment to the mission in Nepal, saying the U.S. “will continue to stand with Nepal as long as our friends need our help.”
“While we mourn the tragic passing of our service members and [those] of the Nepalese army, we recognize that the Nepalese people have suffered a loss of thousands of their own citizens,” he said.
A U.S. Pacific Command statement Friday said “The assessment of the site is ongoing and a thorough investigation will be conducted.”
The aircraft, a UH-1Y Huey, was part of a task force supporting Operation Sahayogi Haat (Helping Hand).
The operation, a joint effort between the military and the U.S. Agency for International Development, had already delivered nearly 50 tons of relief supplies, transported 273 personnel and conducted more than 68 hours of flight time throughout the areas of Nepal hit hard by the April 25 earthquake, when a second major earthquake hit the country on May 12.
Article source: http://www.stltoday.com/business/technology/mit-engineers-have-high-hopes-for-cheetah-robot/article_5082c57f-a4a3-5a78-a61a-307d68834d88.html
The U.S. military says it has found the wreckage of a Marine Corps helicopter that crashed in Nepal while taking part in earthquake relief efforts, and that "it is unlikely that there are any survivors."
Lieutenant General John Wissler said in Kathmandu Friday he could not yet positively...
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