Heavy rain and thick clouds hampered the search on Sunday for a helicopter chartered by conservation group WWF which disappeared in bad weather with 24 people on board, officials said, according to Reuters. Radio contact with the Russian-built MI-17 helicopter was lost on Saturday in Taplejung district, a remote mountainous area 300 km (190 miles) east of the capital, Kathmandu. Army and civilian helicopters and ground rescue teams began combing the forested hills for the aircraft which was carrying 17 Nepali nationals and seven foreigners. "There is poor visibility due to rains and clouds that is hampering our work," Bimalesh Lal Karna, a search and rescue coordinator, told Reuters on Sunday. He said five helicopters doing aerial surveys were forced to abandon the search mission until weather cleared, but search teams on foot continued to scour the forests. A team had been dropped by helicopter near the site where the aircraft vanished and there were also about 90 army and police rescuers as well as villagers, he said.
