Bodies of four chopper crash victims identified

Bodies of four foreign nationals killed in a deadly helicopter crash in Taplejung on September 23 have been identified, according to doctors at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu.

The bodies of Jennifer Headley and Dr Jill Bowling of WWF-UK, Matthew Preece of WWF-US and pilot of the ill-fated Sri Airlines chopper, Klim Kim, were handed over to the families and relatives after identification on Thursday.

Two teams of experts had arrived from the US and Finland to assist in identifying the dead bodies. As the bodies were badly damaged, doctors had to identify them on the basis of cloths, teeth and wristwatches of the victims.

Earlier, 17 dead bodies including that of then state minister Gopal Rai, his wife Mina, Dr Harka Gurung, Dr Chandra Prasad Gurung (WWF-Nepal) and Mingma Sherpa (WWF-US) were already been handed over to the families.

The Sri Airlines chopper with 24 persons on board that crashed in Ghabla area of Taplejung was found three days later. nepalnews.com mk Oct 06 06

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