Samaan is an award-winning journalist based in Mumbai 9:17am GMT An Indian tourist has died and three others have been injured after two helicopters collided while attempting to land near Mount Everest’s base camp.

The collision took place on Tuesday morning at the high-altitude Pheriche village, on the Everest trekking route in eastern Nepal Gyanendra Bhul, the deputy spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), told The Telegraph.

The helicopters, operated by Fishtail Air and Air Dynasty, were ferrying trekkers who had been hiking up to Everest base camp during Nepal’s popular trekking season.

Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, an Indian national on board the red Fishtail Air helicopter, died in the crash, Mr Bhul said.

Shailesh Krishna Patel, a New Zealander, and Rabindra Pradhan, the pilot of the Fishtail Air helicopter, were injured and airlifted to Medicity Hospital in Kathmandu.

The pilot of the Air Dynasty helicopter also sustained minor injuries, Nepali media reported.

The Air Dynasty helicopter had flown from Lukla airport to a helipad in Solukhumbu on a cargo flight, CAAN said.

The Fishtail Air helicopter had taken off from Gorakshep in Solukhumbu carrying two foreign nationals, the authorities added. Rescuers at the scene of the crash Credit Nepal Police via AP“It appears both pilots tried to land on the same helipad very close to each other. The area was covered under snow which could have caused the confusion,” said Insp Mausam Tamang of Solukhumbu district police office. “The rotor blades of a helicopter struck another, triggering the crash.”A video broadcast by local media showed the Air Dynasty helicopter making a rapid descent. As it approached the helipad, it collided with the Fishtail Air helicopter, which was attempting to land from the opposite direction. The footage also showed several people on the ground running for safety. The exact cause of the collision between the two AS350s has not yet been established.

Possible miscommunication between pilots“Preliminary reports suggest miscommunication between the pilots, as the area is outside the coverage of Lukla airport’s air traffic control tower and pilots have to communicate with each other,” Mukesh Dangol, the director general of CAAN, told the Kathmandu Post. “We are recording the statement of the injured pilot.”Mount Ama Dablam attracts most of the climbers in the Everest region. The region is also popular for trekking.

Nepal received 9,385 British tourists in October, the fourth highest. Some 17,437 Americans also travelled to the Himalayan nation.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Nepal’s higher altitude. At least 22 fatal helicopter crashes have occurred across the country since the aviation authority began maintaining records in 1966.

In July 2023, a Manang Air helicopter crashed in the Lamajura area of Solukhumbu district, killing all six people on board including five Mexican tourists from the same family, as well as Chet Bahadur Gurung, a Nepali pilot. It was returning to Kathmandu after a sightseeing flight in the Mount Everest region.

The latest collision comes amid longstanding tensions between helicopter operators and local communities over the growing number of flights in the Everest region.