Public condolence event for chopper crash victims being held at Tudikhel

KATHMANDU, March 1: President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Nepal Communist Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, cabinet ministers and leaders from ruling and opposition parties paid final tributes to Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and six others who died in the Air Dynasty crash in Taplejung on Wednesday.

The top political figures and people from various walks of life are taking part in the public condolence ceremony being held at Tudikhel in the capital from 8 am today morning to pay final tributes to those killed in the chopper crash. On the occasion, Prime Minister Oli draped Minister Adhikari's body with national flag.

Family members, relatives and thousands of grieving people were assembled at Tudikhel for paying last respects to Adhikari and six others who died in the Air Dynasty crash in Taplejung.

The remains of the deceased in the helicopter crash are being kept at Tudikhel. After public tribute, the dead bodies will be handed over to the members of respective families today.

The public condolence ceremony, which was initially scheduled for Thursday afternoon, was postponed to today morning after the ongoing autopsy process prolonged. The doctors at the TU Teaching Hospital had completed the postmortem of all bodies late Thursday.

Seven people on board died after an Air Dynasty helicopter crashed in Taplejung shortly after taking off from Pathivara Temple. The deceased include Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Tourism Minister Adhikari, his security guard Arjun Ghimire, aviation officials Birendra Kumar Shrestha and Dhrubadas Bhochhibhoya, government officials Yubaraj Dahal and pilot Pravakar KC.

All dead bodies were airlifted to Kathmandu on Thursday afternoon from Suketar airport of Taplejung. Even as the rescuers deployed from Nepal army, armed police and locals retrieved three dead bodies from stiff crash site they were unable to retrieve three dead bodies until Thursday morning due to heavy snowfall and adverse weather. Nepal army officials were successful in retrieving the remaining three dead bodies using rope from helicopters only Thursday morning.

Shortly after the remains of those who died in the crash were brought to Kathmandu airport, they were taken to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for autopsy.