Nepal · News Corner
Two Helicopters Collide While Landing at Pheriche in Nepal's Everest Region, Killing One
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How do two helicopters end up trying to land in the same place, at the same moment, on a small high-altitude helipad? That is the question at the centre of a collision at Pheriche in Nepal's Everest region on the morning of 3 November 2026, when an Air Dynasty helicopter and a Fishtail Air helicopter struck each other while coming in to land, killing one passenger and injuring three other people. The early official account points not to a single confirmed cause, but to a sequence investigators will now have to untangle: two aircraft approaching from different directions, a snow-covered landing area, and pilots who, in this spot, must coordinate directly with each other.
What happened at Pheriche
According to a Nepal Police statement, the two helicopters collided while landing at Pheriche in Ward 4 of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, in Solukhumbu district, on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. The District Police Office in Solukhumbu put the time at around 8.11 a.m. local time. Pheriche is a settlement on the route towards Mount Everest Base Camp, about 150 kilometres north-east of Kathmandu, and a familiar stop for trekkers and climbers making their way through the Khumbu region.
The helicopters were operated by Fishtail Air and Air Dynasty. Reports describing footage circulating online said the rotors of the two aircraft struck each other just before landing, sending both machines down onto icy ground. That video itself should be treated with care: NDTV reported that a purported video of the collision had spread on social media but that it could not independently confirm the video's authenticity. What is not in doubt is the police account of the outcome, which Nepal Police also shared in a post on X: one person dead and others injured at the Pheriche helipad.
The first police reports spoke of one person injured, but a later police update, reported by The Hindu and The Times of India, put the injured total at three: one passenger and both pilots. That kind of early revision is common in a fast-moving mountain incident, where information reaches Kathmandu in stages, but it is worth stating plainly so readers are not confused by the different numbers still circulating online. Police said the total number of people aboard the two helicopters at the time had yet to be confirmed.
The two helicopters and the people on board
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) identified the two aircraft as AS350 helicopters. The Air Dynasty machine, registration 9N-AOD, had flown from Lukla Airport to the helipad in Solukhumbu on a cargo flight. The Fishtail Air machine, registration 9N-AJR, had taken off from Gorakshep, near Everest Base Camp, carrying two foreign nationals. The Times of India, citing a Fishtail Air official, reported that the company's helicopter was carrying tourists who had been rescued from the Everest region.
The man who died was identified by police as Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, a 47-year-old Indian national travelling aboard the Fishtail Air helicopter. NDTV, citing the Kathmandu Post and local police, reported that he was a resident of Chennai. His body was taken to a hospital in Lukla, according to The Hindu and The Times of India.
The injured passenger was Shailesh Krishna Patel, a 49-year-old Indian-origin resident of New Zealand who was also aboard the Fishtail Air helicopter. He was airlifted to Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu by a Prabhu helicopter, police inspector Mausam Tamang said. The Hindu and The Times of India identified the two injured pilots as Rabindra Prajapati of Fishtail Air and Prajwal KC of Air Dynasty, and reported that both were taken to Kathmandu for further treatment. Nepal's aviation authority said it was recording the statement of the injured pilot as part of its investigation.
What investigators say so far — and what they have not said
No final cause has been established, and police said they were still gathering details. The preliminary explanations offered so far are just that: preliminary, and they come from different officials speaking at different stages of the inquiry. They should not be read as a verdict.
CAAN deputy spokesperson Gyanendra Bhul told BBC Nepali, as reported by The Times of India, that the two helicopters were approaching the landing area from different directions and both tried to land at the same spot. Bhul said one helicopter was travelling from Lukla while the other was returning from Gorakshep, and added that preliminary information suggested the snow-covered helipad may have played a role: it looked as though the aircraft tried to land on one of the other helipads, perhaps because it was covered in snow, even though other helipads were available. Bhul also said, in the authority's early account, that the rotor blades of the two helicopters collided while they were landing.
Separately, CAAN Director General Mukesh Dangol said preliminary findings indicated possible miscommunication between the pilots. He explained that the Pheriche helipad falls outside the coverage of Lukla Airport's air traffic control tower, so pilots there have to coordinate directly with one another before landing. Whether that coordination failed, and how it interacted with the snow on the landing area and the two aircraft's approach paths, is exactly what the investigation must now establish. Until it does, any single-word explanation — weather, pilot error, or a crowded helipad — would go beyond what officials have actually said.
Context and what to watch
Pheriche sits at an altitude of approximately 4,371 metres, according to CAAN, which makes it a place where every part of flying is harder. NDTV noted that thinner air at such altitudes gives rotor blades less to push against and leaves engines with less oxygen for combustion, reducing available power. Helicopters are nevertheless central to life and travel in this region: they carry tourists, climbers and supplies, and they fly emergency evacuations from places no road reaches. Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains and draws thousands of foreign trekkers and climbers every year, and the collision happened during the peak trekking season, when helicopter movements around the Everest region are at their busiest.
This was also the second high-altitude helicopter tragedy in the wider Himalayan region within days, and the two incidents must not be confused. Days earlier, a helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from Badrinath in India's Uttarakhand, killing all six people on board, including the pilot and five passengers. That crash, in a different country and on a different kind of flight, is a separate investigation with its own questions. The Nepal collision is about two aircraft converging on one landing spot; the Badrinath crash involved a single aircraft. Treating them as one story would mislead readers about both.
What to watch, then, is narrow and concrete. First, the condition of the three injured people, and any update from Mediciti Hospital or the authorities in Kathmandu. Second, the aviation authority's fuller account: the recorded statement of the injured pilot, any findings on how the two approaches were coordinated, and whether the snow-covered helipad is confirmed as a factor. Third, whether the investigation leads to any change in how landings at helipads outside Lukla's tower coverage are coordinated. None of those answers exists yet, and this article will need updating when officials publish them.
What to watch next
The investigation is still at the stage of gathering statements and details, and no final cause has been announced. Readers should look for the aviation authority's next update on the pilots' coordination and the condition of the landing area, for news on the three injured people, and for any procedural change at Pheriche or similar helipads. Until then, the confirmed facts remain the collision itself, the one death, the three injuries, and the two aircraft involved.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in Nepal on 3 November 2026?
Two helicopters, operated by Fishtail Air and Air Dynasty, collided while landing at the Pheriche helipad in Solukhumbu district in the morning. One passenger was killed and three other people — one passenger and both pilots — were injured, according to a later police update.
Where exactly is Pheriche?
Pheriche is a settlement in Ward 4 of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, in Solukhumbu district, on the route towards Mount Everest Base Camp. It lies about 150 kilometres north-east of Kathmandu, at an altitude of approximately 4,371 metres, and is a well-known stop for trekkers and climbers.
Who was killed and who was injured?
The man who died was Vasanth Kumar Balaramaramadu, a 47-year-old Indian national from Chennai, who was travelling aboard the Fishtail Air helicopter. The injured were Shailesh Krishna Patel, a 49-year-old Indian-origin resident of New Zealand on the same helicopter, and the two pilots, Rabindra Prajapati of Fishtail Air and Prajwal KC of Air Dynasty. Patel was airlifted to Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu, and the pilots were also taken to Kathmandu for treatment.
Which helicopters were involved, and where had they come from?
Both were AS350 helicopters. The Air Dynasty aircraft, registration 9N-AOD, had flown from Lukla Airport on a cargo flight. The Fishtail Air aircraft, registration 9N-AJR, had taken off from Gorakshep, near Everest Base Camp, carrying two foreign nationals, reported to be tourists rescued from the Everest region.
What caused the collision?
The cause has not been established. Preliminary official accounts mention the two helicopters approaching from different directions and trying to land at the same spot, a snow-covered helipad, and possible miscommunication between the pilots at a helipad outside Lukla Airport's air traffic control coverage. These are preliminary findings, not a final verdict.
Is this connected to the Badrinath helicopter crash?
No. The Badrinath crash in India's Uttarakhand, days earlier, involved a single helicopter and killed all six people on board. It is a separate incident in a different country, with its own investigation, and should not be confused with the two-helicopter collision at Pheriche.
A separate helicopter crash, weeks earlier
This is a different incident from the October 2026 helicopter crash near Joshimath in Uttarakhand — see our earlier report: helicopter crash near Joshimath.