NEPAL Indo-Tibetan (China) Nepali border area -- 27 Sep 2006 -- The scene of the Nepali helicopter tragedy is visible (lower left to lower left-centre) in this undated file photo from taken
NEPAL Indo-Tibetan (China) Nepali border area -- 27 Sep 2006 -- The scene of the Nepali helicopter tragedy is visible (lower left to lower left-centre) in this undated file photo from taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS). Some 24 people were found dead earlier this week after rescuers reached the remote crash site near the village of Ghunsa in Taplejung province, which is located on the eastern border of Nepal, India and Tibet. This image shows the site of the crash (left corner of the image) and surrounding geography of Tibet, Sikkim and the Nepalese Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, which the WWF team and other officials were visiting in the MI-172 helicopter. The centre of this image is Lattitude 27.2°N and Longitude 88.4°E Among the 24 dead - when the aircraft crashed on the 23 Sep 2006 - Gopal Rai, Nepal's Minister of Forests and soil Conservation. Others on board included his wife Meena Rai, Finland embassy charge d'affaires Pauli Mustonnen and deputy director of American government's aid agency USAID Margaret Alexander. WWF's country director in Nepal, Chandra Gurung, was also on the flight along with conservation director for the UK WWF, Australian Jill Bowling, British coordinator Canadian Jennifer Headley and American Matthew Preece. Mingma Norbu Sherpa was another WWF official among the Nepalis - who also lost a noted geographer and anthropologist Harka Gurung and conservationist Tirthaman Maskey. How the crash happened is now under investigation by the Nepalese authorities -- Picture by Lightroom Photos / NASA Editorial use only