KATHMANDU, Sept 23: A helicopter carrying 24 people, including a government minister and senior World Wildlife Fund officials, went missing in Nepal on Saturday and officials said they feared it had crashed.

An army helicopter began a search for the chopper in the country’s remote mountainous eastern region but bad weather forced it to turn back, said Himesh Lal Karna, air traffic service manager at Kathmandu airport.

A WWF official in Kathmandu said the air search would resume at dawn Sunday if weather in the area improved.

The helicopter belonging to the private carrier Shree Airlines lost contact with the airport in Taplejung town, 400kms east of Kathmandu, just before noon, Karna said.

“There is a high possibility that the helicopter may have crashed,” Karna said.

The helicopter took off wet and cloudy conditions, and Nepal’s meterological office predicted similar weather for Sunday.

Seventeen Nepalis, including the Minister of Forests Gopal Rai and his wife were aboard the flight as well as two journalists, officials said.

Also on the flight were a Finnish diplomat, two Russian crew members, two Americans, one Australian and one Canadian, said Trishna Gurung, a WWF official in Kathmandu.

A passenger list posted on the WWF Nepal web site said the group’s officials aboard the helicopter included Canadian Jennifer Headley, coordinator of WWF UK, Australian Jill Bowling, conservation director of WWF UK, and American Matthew Preece, programme officer for WWF US.

Others on the chopper were American Margaret Alexander, deputy director in Nepal of the US government’s international aid arm, USAID, and Pauli Mustonnen, Finnish charge daffaires in Kathmandu, the web site said.

Gurung said two rescue teams had set out on foot to find the helicopter which was flying to Suketar, in Taplejung district, from Ghunsa when it was reported missing.

“We still haven’t confirmed it’s a crash and we’re hoping for the best but the weather has turned bad,” Gurung said.

Rescuers are making “a valiant effort despite the rain and cold conditions in the mountains,” said WWF website statement.—AFP