2000 tourists stranded at Ramechhap airport due to bad weather

RAMECHHAP, Oct 10: About 2500 tourists who went to visit Khumbu region are stranded in Ramechhap. Many foreign tourists are stranded after the Ramechhap-Lukla flight is not available for three days due to adverse weather conditions.
Sita, Tara and Summit Air have been flying Ramechhap-Lukla. Dwarika Achami, head of Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla, said that tourists were stranded due to lack of flights.

This is the peak season for tourists to visit the Khumbu region. It is not possible to fly all flights from Kathmandu to Lukla. At present, due to the weather, the flights have not been able to take place," he said. Some tourists are flying around by chartering a helicopter.'

Arrangements are also being made for temporary accommodation for stranded passengers. Most of the foreign tourists have been arranged to stay in hotels and tents from Ramechhap to Mulkot, said Sudarshan Bertaula, Head of Flight Security and Spokesperson of Tara Air. He informed that the company, which has been operating 15 flights daily through two Twin Otter ships, has not been able to fly for the past four days.

Some passengers have already canceled their flights. Some passengers have returned to Kathmandu. Tourists who are waiting for the monsoon to open are still staying in the airport premises,' said the spokesperson Bertaula.

According to the Lukla Aviation Center, three helicopters flew between Ramechhap and Lukla until Sunday afternoon. Till the day of Ashtami, Tara, Sita and Summit Air were running 30 Ramechhap-Lukla flights daily.

Manoj Karki, managing director of Summit Air, said that due to bad weather for three days, all the three companies' flights to the fixed wing could not take off. 'There was no flight yesterday and today. Some tourists have gone off-road. Most of the tourists are waiting to go by helicopter,' he said.

In view of the peak season, all the three fixed wing companies started flying to Lukla from Ramechhap base.

Pratapjung Pandey, the owner of Kailash Helicopters informed that the helicopter flight towards Ramechhap-Lukla has not been operated for the past few days.

"Now, compared to the 5-6 seater helicopters we have with the private sector, it has become inevitable to operate the Mi 17 helicopter of the Nepali Army. Our less capable helicopters are not so easy to serve. When we fly 5 times, the army helicopter can serve many people at the same time, said Pandey.