US choppers launch Nepal quake reconnaissance to boost relief bid
Print Edition
US military helicopters began reconnaissance trips yesterday to assess remote areas of Nepal devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 7,300 people, an official said.
Nine days after an 8.1-magnitude quake brought death and destruction to the Himalayan nation, the helicopters surveyed mountain villages.
Four tilt-rotor Ospreys have also arrived in Nepal.
鈥淥nly the 鈥楬ueys鈥 (helicopters) have gone out so far for reconnaissance flights to try to identify areas in need of relief. No Ospreys have been out,鈥 a United States Embassy official said yesterday.
The Ospreys and a US Air Force C-17 aircraft touched down in the capital Kathmandu on Sunday. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l have multiple aims. They鈥檒l be delivering relief supplies, they might do some rescues, they鈥檒l also do assessments,鈥 US ambassador Peter Bodde told reporters.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to make an immediate difference,鈥 Brigadier General Paul Kennedy said.
A Nepalese official said the US aircraft would also airlift victims out of remote areas which suffered some of the worst devastation following the April 25 quake.
鈥淭hey are also assisting any casualties in mostly the eastern side of Nepal... places worst hit like Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha area,鈥 Suraya Prasad Silwal, the home ministry secretary, said.
While the official death toll for Nepal rose to 7,365 yesterday, with some 14,000 injured, authorities warned the final tally would be much higher. More than 100 people were also killed in India and China.
Nepal police spokesman Kamal Singh Bam said 57 foreigners were known to have died while 112 were still missing. Many were in the popular Langtang trekking region north of Kathmandu when the quake struck.
鈥淎 few foreigner bodies were taken to Kathmandu from Langtang yesterday. According to villagers there, they say many other foreigners may have been buried and killed in the landslide,鈥 the spokesman said.
Uddhav Bhattarai, chief officer of Rasuwa district where Lantang is situated, said the bodies of seven foreigners had been found but only two had been identified. He could not say exactly how many were missing.
鈥淭he whole of Langtang village was cleared, nothing remains there. No more guest houses, everything was wiped out by the avalanche,鈥 he said.
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