KATHMANDU, August 7: The government has formed a three-member commission to investigate the Air Dynasty chopper crash.

An emergency Cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar on Wednesday appointed senior pilot of the Nepalese Army, Subas Thapa, as the commission's coordinator, according to Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung. The commission also includes aeronautical engineer Bishnu Basnet and Under-Secretary (Technical) of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Tanuja Pokharel. The commission has been tasked with submitting its report within 30 days.

The government expressed its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash. Minister Gurung paid tribute to all the victims of the incident.

The crash claimed the lives of five people, including the pilot, Arun Malla. The helicopter, with call sign 9N-AJD, met with an accident at Shivapuri Rural Municipality-7 on Wednesday afternoon. It had departed from Nalinchowk in Bhaktapur district for Syaphrubesi in Rasuwa district.

The Chinese nationals killed in the crash were identified as Tang Jutao, Wu Yiyao, Li Jie, and Xie Zeming.

All the bodies have been transferred to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj for postmortem examination, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. -- RSS