March 4, 2008 Unaccounted Bodies
Among UN Chopper Crash Victims in Nepal By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu
The UN helicopter crash in eastern Nepal has received a fresh twist
with a mystery arising about the identities of two of the 12
victims, one of whom is a Nepali male.
The UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Tuesday confirmed that it had lost
seven of its personnel in the crash in Ramechhap district's Bethan
village Monday afternoon while the three western crew also perished.
"Four international arms monitors died in the accident, from Gambia,
Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Sweden," UNMIN said in a
statement in Kathmandu Tuesday. "The air crew, from a Russian
company, comprised two Russians and one Belarussian."
It also identified the three Nepali staffers, who died as the
Russian MI-17 chopper crashed while returning to Kathmandu from a
Maoist guerrilla cantonment in Sindhuli district.
UNMIN liaison officers Bhim Bahadur Gurung, language assistant
Rabindra Khaniya and mechanic Rajesh Maharjan were identified as the
Nepali victims.
Of the foreign arms monitors, South Korea identified 50-year-old
Lt.Col. Park Hyung-jin as the Korean casualty and said it was
sending a fact-finding team to Nepal to probe the crash.
Maj.Gen. Lee Young-man is heading the Korean team that will also
include two relatives of Hyung-jin.
However, while UNMIN has accounted for 10 deaths, Nepal's home
ministry and police said two more bodies have been recovered. One of
them has been identified as a Nepali male.
It was not known immediately what the two unaccounted for passengers
were doing aboard the UN chopper.
UN vehicles are under strict instruction not to carry outsiders.
Bad weather with downpours, thunder and lightning hampered search
and rescue operations in Bethan village in Ramechhap district, where
the chopper crashed. Ten badly mangled and charred bodies were being
retrieved till late evening.
By night, villagers and police personnel had been able to pull out
two more bodies, said to have been entangled with the engine, taking
the toll to 12.
The UN began notifying the permanent missions of each of the
countries of the dead international personnel so that their families
could be contacted.
An UNMIN team as well as a Nepal Army helicopter reached the
accident site for further search and investigation.
UNMIN said Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority would probe the crash,
with participation by it and the chopper company.
The teams at the crash site began packing the badly mangled bodies
in body bags to bring them to Kathmandu and conduct the last rites
according to the wishes of the families.
UNMIN chief Ian Martin, who is the UN Secretary-General's special
representative, expressing sorrow over the tragedy, said: "They (the
UNMIN personnel) died while working to sustain peace in Nepal, and
UNMIN will continue in the midst of this tragedy to apply its best
efforts to this purpose."
UNMIN's tenure in Nepal had ended in January. However, it was given
a six-month extension after the Nepal government failed to hold the
election in November and was also unable to come up with a concrete
plan to rehabilitate the PLA combatants living in barracks under
UNMIN supervision.
Bad weather and pilot error are likely to have caused the crash.
Two years ago, all 24 people abroad a helicopter were killed when it
crashed in eastern Nepal.
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