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The chopper had taken off from Surki in Solukhumbu district to Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu at 9.45 am today morning.

A helicopter with six people on board, which had been reported missing near Mount Everest in Nepal, crashed on Tuesday. There are no survivors, said a local media report quoting police officials.

The chopper, a part of the Manang Air fleet, took off for Kathmandu at 9.45 am and was out of contact within 15 minutes, as per a report in The Kathmandu Post. It crashed at Lamjura in Solukhumbu district, the report added.VERY EARLY THIS morning, NASA flew a small drone helicopter that its latest rover had toted to Mars, marking humankind’s first controlled and powered flight on another planet. Ingenuity stuck the landing—and space engineers are stoked.

“We’re ecstatic, of course,” said Matthew Golombek, a senior research scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, during a call with WIRED shortly after the Ingenuity team learned of the success. The data that trickled into JPL computers early Monday morning was “nominal,” he said—NASA-speak for a best-case scenario. “Anytime you’ve successfully landed a spacecraft, it’s a pretty good moment,” Golombek said. Ingenuity ascended about 1 meter per second, until it rose 3 meters—about 10 feet above Mars. The helicopter hung as evenly as its state-of-the-art electronics could allow, and then landed where it had been 40 seconds before. Then, Ingenuity pinged its Earth-bound engineers a message they’ve sought for almost a decade: Mission accomplished. The hovering drone sent back a black-and-white video of its own shadow, and the Perseverance rover’s high-resolution camera snapped shots of the flight and landing from a distance.

“We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet,” MiMi Aung, the project manager, told her team after the flight as she stood in front of giant wall art that read “DARE MIGHTY THINGS,” the message that had also been encoded into the rover’s descent parachute.

The machines humankind has sent to Mars have gotten increasingly sophisticated since the first rover, Sojourner, rolled in 1997. That robot put the first wheels on Mars, and its cousins, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, followed carrying their suites of science experiments. But Perseverance—the largest of the bunch, which landed in February—has driven around the Red Planet with a helicopter in its belly. Ingenuity is NASA’s first attempt at flying a drone on another planet. The space agency and the contractors who participated in its design want to glean lessons from its flight data to design bigger exploratory flyers for future missions.

During a press conference held later Monday morning, Aung called it an “absolutely beautiful flight” as she watched the video sent from the rover. “I don’t think I can ever stop watching it over and over again,” she said.

The Sojourner technology demonstration in 1997 gave NASA the validation for subsequent rovers, JPL director Michael Watkins said at that press conference. “What the Ingenuity team has done is given us the third dimension,” said Watkins. “I think this is exactly the way we build the future.”

Flying on Mars is way different than flying on Earth. Gravity is 62 percent weaker there, but the atmosphere is 99 percent thinner and provides much less lift. It would be like flying a helicopter at an altitude of 100,000 feet on Earth, where the record for high flying is less than 41,000 feet for a helicopter and 85,000 for a plane. Ingenuity’s rotor blades spin at up to 2,537 rotations per minute to make up for it—that’s about five times faster than helicopter blades whirl on Earth.

Because of its thin atmosphere, daily temperatures on Mars can swing by over 150 degrees, which makes the air density highly variable. Engineers had to account for this unreliable air cushion. “At sea level here on Earth, the pressure doesn’t change by that much,” said Ben Pipenberg, an aeromechanical engineer with AeroVironment. The California aircraft company has been working with JPL since 2013 to bring the helicopter idea to life. But on Mars, he continues, “from our current operating point, we can vary the operating pressure by about 30 to 40 percent up or down and still fly fine.”Each piece of the copter is crafted to maximize function and minimize weight. The blades weigh a total of 70 grams, less than a deck of cards. The whole $85 million drone weighs about 4 pounds—less than a gallon of ice cream.

Ingenuity’s real mission is to demonstrate flight on Mars and to log engineering data about how each of its mechanical and electronic organs function—it’s an experiment. “We have flown in an imagined Mars,” Ingenuity’s chief engineer, Bob Balaram, told WIRED before the flight. “Imagined in our computers; imagined in our supercomputers; imagined in simulations; imagined in our testing facilities here on Earth. We want to see what is the stuff that we’re missing.”

The chopper, a part of the Manang Air fleet, took off for Kathmandu at 9.45 am and was out of contact within 15 minutes, as per a report in The Kathmandu Post. It crashed at Lamjura in Solukhumbu district, the report added.VERY EARLY THIS morning, NASA flew a small drone helicopter that its latest rover had toted to Mars, marking humankind’s first controlled and powered flight on another planet. Ingenuity stuck the landing—and space engineers are stoked.

“We’re ecstatic, of course,” said Matthew Golombek, a senior research scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, during a call with WIRED shortly after the Ingenuity team learned of the success. The data that trickled into JPL computers early Monday morning was “nominal,” he said—NASA-speak for a best-case scenario. “Anytime you’ve successfully landed a spacecraft, it’s a pretty good moment,” Golombek said.

Ingenuity ascended about 1 meter per second, until it rose 3 meters—about 10 feet above Mars. The helicopter hung as evenly as its state-of-the-art electronics could allow, and then landed where it had been 40 seconds before. Then, Ingenuity pinged its Earth-bound engineers a message they’ve sought for almost a decade: Mission accomplished. The hovering drone sent back a black-and-white video of its own shadow, and the Perseverance rover’s high-resolution camera snapped shots of the flight and landing from a distance.

HUMLA, June 12: A 32-year-old Dhankaura Shahi of Rodhikot, Sarkegad Rural Municipality-7, in the middle of Humla was rescued by a helicopter.

She was suffering from heavy bleeding for three days and was sent to Surkhet this morning by a helicopter of the Nepali Army after her treatment was not possible at the local hospital.

Prem Singh, chief of the Health Service Office, Humla, said that after the pregnant Shahi’s condition became serious due to excessive bleeding, she was rescued by a helicopter of the Nepali Army in coordination with Sarkegad Rural Municipality, Health Service Office, District Hospital and the local administration. He said that the condition of Shahi, who was bleeding profusely, became critical from Sunday night. She is currently being treated at the provincial hospital in Surkhet. The women of remote Humla have received relief after the President Woman Upliftment Program started aerial rescue services.

Chief Singh says that this program has proved to be a boon for the pregnant women who are in pain in Sarkegad, Chankheli, Adanchuli and Tanjakot rural municipalities of the southern region due to lack of manpower and equipment.

This year, eight women including Shahi were rescued by the helicopters of the Nepali Army, according to Chief Singh.

It was a sunny morning on Tuesday when a Mexican family excitedly took off on a helicopter tour of Everest. They had seen many videos of the world’s highest peak on YouTube, and wanted to go and see it by themselves.

So the father, mother, son and two daughters arrived in Nepal from Mexico, and booked a helicopter tour to the 8,848.86-metre giant.

“They were very excited to make a helicopter tour of the breathtaking Everest,” said Captain Prakash Kumar Sedhain, a flight safety director at Manang Air. “Unfortunately, it ended in disaster.”

The monsoon is not a good time for climbing expeditions to the Himalaya or trekking in the mountains. The weather is bad, the trekking routes slippery, so hiking is full of risks. But a few enthusiasts go on helicopters to get a close look at the soaring heights of rock and ice.

On Tuesday morning, the Mexican family fulfilled a long-held wish with a nearly hour-long tour of Everest with Manang Air. Their helicopter then made a stop at Surke, a mountain village south of Everest, to refuel for the return flight to Kathmandu.

Surke village, which lies at an altitude of 2,300 metres, is situated near the famed Lukla Airport which is the starting-off point for Everest expeditions.

At 10:05 am, the helicopter carrying the Mexican family took off from Surke for Kathmandu, and was lost immediately after. According to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the chopper made its last contact with Lukla Airport tower at 10:13 am.

It took rescuers five hours to locate the site where the craft had gone down, killing all on board. The Manang Air helicopter bearing registration number 9N-AMV had slammed into a hillside at Lamjura.

The crash site lies at an elevation of about 3,500 metres in Likhupike Rural Municipality of Solukhumbu district. At 5.30 pm, all six bodies were airlifted to Kathmandu for postmortem.

The five Mexican passengers and Captain Chet Bahadur Gurung, who was flying the helicopter, were killed, said Dipak Kumar Shrestha, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Solukhumbu District Police Office.

“The weather was not good. It was raining heavily at the site where the chopper had crashed. It looks like the accident was caused by bad weather.”

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed sorrow over the crash.

The exact reason behind the catastrophe is not known, and a government fact-finding commission is to launch a detailed investigation. A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening announced an investigation commission led by Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism.

 

Nepal is amending the guidelines to streamline the harvest and trade in yarsagumba, one of the world’s most expensive herbs, following concerns over over-harvesting and emerging environmental and social threats.

The Ministry of Forest and Environment has prepared a draft directory and put it on its website seeking comments from the stakeholders concerned.

Yarsagumba, whose scientific name is Ophiocordyceps sinensis, is a small parasitic fungus that grows within a variety of caterpillars in the Himalayan region. It kills the caterpillar and emerges from the dead body as a thin stem.

Yarsagumba is prized in a number of countries, particularly in China, for its purported aphrodisiac and healing properties.

“The primary purpose of the new guidelines is to assist those actively engaged in harvest and trade situations and monitor them properly,” said Badri Raj Dhungana, spokesperson for the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

“We have given 10 days’ time to submit suggestions. After the deadline expires, we will incorporate suitable suggestions in the directory and send it to the Law and Finance ministries for their approval before tabling the draft at the Cabinet.”

The government plans to implement the new guidelines from the next season.

The fungus grows at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 metres and is harvested between May and June, right before the monsoon starts.

Tens of thousands of Nepali villagers flock to the Himalayan foothills in 12 mountain districts in Nepal’s Mid- and Far West to collect the fungus. They travel for days to the highlands and live there for up to two months in tents.

The draft guidelines have proposed allowing only 30 days in a year for a person to harvest yarsa in any month from mid-April to mid-June.

The collectors should be above 16 years of age, according to the proposed instructions. One person will be issued a collection permit once a year.

According to the draft guidelines, a camp will be set up in the highlands in coordination with the local government, local administration, security personnel, health agency and consumer committee for proper management and security.

The camp will provide drinking water, manage the garbage and provide primary health services and security.

The yarsa pickers will be barred from setting up tents other than in areas designated by the national park authorities.

People will be barred from using plastic of less than 40 microns. They will not be allowed to light fires or dig pits. People will be barred from playing music and movies in the areas.

The yarsa quota will be fixed.

“The objective of the new guidelines is also to analyse the data and assist with the sources of origin, particularly for trade,” said Dhungana.

Amid the rush to collect the prized yarsagumba, undesirable incidents occur. Every year, disputes erupt between locals and Nepalis from other districts who enter the camp to collect the fungus. In 2012, one such dispute escalated into the murder of seven people.

Many collectors also die from exposure to harsh climatic conditions.

“Yarsa is associated with a long tradition, and there is a need for proper guidelines to assess not only their values but also assist people with safety and security in the highlands,” said Dhungana.

Several reports have shown that caterpillar fungus populations have been declining at an alarming rate each passing year due to over-harvesting.

On October 31, 2019, the fungus was included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international organisation working in the field of nature conservation.

The IUCN has put yarsa in a vulnerable category because of excessive harvesting.

The world environment body said caterpillar fungus populations have declined by at least 30 percent over the past 15 years due to over-harvesting.

Besides Nepal, the fungus is found in northern India, Bhutan and the Tibetan plateau of China.

The IUCN said that implementing a sustainable harvest programme was needed both for the caterpillar fungus and for the long-term economic health of the communities that depend on it for income.

The major threat is the largely unregulated large-scale and increasing harvest of the fungus throughout its range fuelled by high demand and increasingly high prices.

Besides over-collection by humans, there are numerous other minor threats.

Since the legalisation of yarsa trade in Nepal in 2001, trade volume has increased consistently, reaching a peak of 2,442.4 kg in 2009 and subsequently declining to 1,170.8 kg in 2011.

Every summer when the snow melts and the grass begins to sprout, tens of thousands of people begin their seasonal journey to high-altitude pastures in search of the valuable fungus, braving the cold weather and altitude sickness.

Roving groups of people, which include men, women and children, set up camps and spend months combing alpine ranges above 3,500 metres inch-by-inch for the caterpillar fungus. This cycle runs for almost a month before the monsoon arrives in mid-July.

Locals compare the seasonal activity to a “gold harvest”, as thousands of people from the mountains make nearly 60 percent of their annual income by selling the collected fungus.

Until 2001, collecting yarsa was illegal. The government lifted the ban after the fungus started to become an income source for mountain communities, but imposed a royalty of Rs20,000 per kg.

The royalty was increased to Rs30,000 per kg. The fee depends on the category of the collector—local, neighbour and other districts.

Demand for yarsa reportedly started to soar after the 1993 World Athletics Championship, during which Chinese athletes had set new world records.

It was presumed that Chinese athletes were consuming yarsagumba as a tonic, which enhanced their performance, according to a Nepal Rastra Bank research report.

The ensuing high demand for the fungus meant that its price went from just about $5 a kilo in 1992 to $1,400 in 2002. In 2012, a kilo was worth $100,000 in China and Hong Kong, the major markets for the fungus, according to data from the central bank.

In 2016, the herb was sold for as much as $130,000 a kilo in Singapore.

Nepal Rastra Bank estimates that Nepal raised about $50 million in 2016 from the sale of the fungus, which is estimated to have a global production of between 83 and 183 tonnes, worth between $5 billion and $11 billion annually.

During the heyday, Nepal exported more than 3 tonnes of yarsa and was the world’s second largest producer after China.

The trade, however, has been declining. In the last fiscal year, 683 kg of yarsa worth Rs443.19 million was exported, mainly to Cambodia, China, the United States, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, according to Nepal Rastra Bank.

A yarsa collector can earn about Rs103,000 a year, which is a lot more money than what they would make from other economic activities.

A family earns about Rs277,000 annually, which amounts to 56 percent of its total yearly income, according to the central bank’s research report.

Due to the ever-changing weather and mountainous terrain, the Nepali airspace is perceived as highly hazardous, posing risks not only to aeroplanes but also to helicopters. Manang Air helicopter crashing in the hills of eastern Nepal is proof of that as it became the 42nd helicopter crash in the country’s history.

It is unclear how the helicopter crashed as there are reports the pilot was told the weather was clear between Solukhumbu and Kathmandu. But the helicopter crashed a few minutes after flying bringing an old but serious question to light.

Why do helicopters, that are considered safe in international airspace, crash in Nepal so often?

The Manang Air helicopter left Sukre for Kathmandu at 10.15 am. Authorities say it came into contact with the air traffic controller in Lukla at 10.13 am. By this time, the helicopter was at Lamjura Pass. After that, Kathmandu’s air traffic controller should have contacted this helicopter, but it did not.

According to Pratap Babu Tiwari, General Manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, after the helicopter did not come into contact with the tower, the Search and Rescue Center at TIA dispatched two Altitude Air helicopters to look for the missing chopper.

Locally, the police were also on the lookout. Assistant Police Inspector Nirajan Basnet, the frist respondent to the scene, says there was a lot of commotion around the spot. The helicopter had crashed and it was unlikely there would be any survivors.

There were six people on the helicopter. Five of the six were Mexican tourists and they were flown by experienced pilot CB Gurung. They were in Lukla on Monday and had taken the mountain flight to get a glimpse of the highest mountains in the world. Little did they know, that their flight back was going to be their last.

In 2010, two people lost their lives when a Fishtail Air helicopter crashed in Ama Dablam mountain. Helicopter crashes in 2013 and 2014 in Simikot and Sindupalchowk respectively resulted in the death of two people. In 2015, a Mountain Heli helicopter crashed on Yamuna Hill in Sindhupalchowk, killing four people.

Similarly, in 2015, 13 people, including American soldiers, lost their lives when an American army helicopter that went to the rescue of earthquake victims crashed in Dolakha. Again in 2016, seven people died when a Fishtail helicopter crashed in Nuwakot.

In 2018, a Manang Air helicopter crashed in Hilsa, killing one person. In the same year, six people died on the spot when Altitude Air’s helicopter crashed in Nuwakot.

In 2019, Minister of Tourism Rabindra Adhikari died when the helicopter he was on crashed in Taplejung. He was flying with tourism entrepreneur Ang Tsering Sherpa, PMO under-secretary Yubaraj Dahal, officials from CAAN Birendra Shrestha and Dhurva Bhochhibhya, security personnel Arjun Ghimire and pilot Prabhakar KC.

The inquiry commissions established following helicopter accidents have commonly identified several key factors as the main causes. These factors include the challenging geographical terrain of Nepal, the swiftly changing weather conditions, and the tendency of pilots to fly irrespective of unfavourable weather and terrain. These elements have consistently been recognised as significant contributors to helicopter accidents in the country.

Due to the ever-changing weather and mountainous terrain, the Nepali airspace is perceived as highly hazardous, posing risks not only to aeroplanes but also to helicopters. Manang Air helicopter crashing in the hills of eastern Nepal is proof of that as it became the 42nd helicopter crash in the country’s history.

It is unclear how the helicopter crashed as there are reports the pilot was told the weather was clear between Solukhumbu and Kathmandu. But the helicopter crashed a few minutes after flying bringing an old but serious question to light.

Why do helicopters, that are considered safe in international airspace, crash in Nepal so often?

The Manang Air helicopter left Sukre for Kathmandu at 10.15 am. Authorities say it came into contact with the air traffic controller in Lukla at 10.13 am. By this time, the helicopter was at Lamjura Pass. After that, Kathmandu’s air traffic controller should have contacted this helicopter, but it did not.

According to Pratap Babu Tiwari, General Manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, after the helicopter did not come into contact with the tower, the Search and Rescue Center at TIA dispatched two Altitude Air helicopters to look for the missing chopper.

Locally, the police were also on the lookout. Assistant Police Inspector Nirajan Basnet, the frist respondent to the scene, says there was a lot of commotion around the spot. The helicopter had crashed and it was unlikely there would be any survivors.

There were six people on the helicopter. Five of the six were Mexican tourists and they were flown by experienced pilot CB Gurung. They were in Lukla on Monday and had taken the mountain flight to get a glimpse of the highest mountains in the world. Little did they know, that their flight back was going to be their last.

In 2010, two people lost their lives when a Fishtail Air helicopter crashed in Ama Dablam mountain. Helicopter crashes in 2013 and 2014 in Simikot and Sindupalchowk respectively resulted in the death of two people. In 2015, a Mountain Heli helicopter crashed on Yamuna Hill in Sindhupalchowk, killing four people.

Similarly, in 2015, 13 people, including American soldiers, lost their lives when an American army helicopter that went to the rescue of earthquake victims crashed in Dolakha. Again in 2016, seven people died when a Fishtail helicopter crashed in Nuwakot.

In 2018, a Manang Air helicopter crashed in Hilsa, killing one person. In the same year, six people died on the spot when Altitude Air’s helicopter crashed in Nuwakot.

In 2019, Minister of Tourism Rabindra Adhikari died when the helicopter he was on crashed in Taplejung. He was flying with tourism entrepreneur Ang Tsering Sherpa, PMO under-secretary Yubaraj Dahal, officials from CAAN Birendra Shrestha and Dhurva Bhochhibhya, security personnel Arjun Ghimire and pilot Prabhakar KC.

The inquiry commissions established following helicopter accidents have commonly identified several key factors as the main causes. These factors include the challenging geographical terrain of Nepal, the swiftly changing weather conditions, and the tendency of pilots to fly irrespective of unfavourable weather and terrain. These elements have consistently been recognised as significant contributors to helicopter accidents in the country.

Nepal is amending the guidelines to streamline the harvest and trade in yarsagumba, one of the world’s most expensive herbs, following concerns over over-harvesting and emerging environmental and social threats.

The Ministry of Forest and Environment has prepared a draft directory and put it on its website seeking comments from the stakeholders concerned.

Yarsagumba, whose scientific name is Ophiocordyceps sinensis, is a small parasitic fungus that grows within a variety of caterpillars in the Himalayan region. It kills the caterpillar and emerges from the dead body as a thin stem.

Yarsagumba is prized in a number of countries, particularly in China, for its purported aphrodisiac and healing properties.

“The primary purpose of the new guidelines is to assist those actively engaged in harvest and trade situations and monitor them properly,” said Badri Raj Dhungana, spokesperson for the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

“We have given 10 days’ time to submit suggestions. After the deadline expires, we will incorporate suitable suggestions in the directory and send it to the Law and Finance ministries for their approval before tabling the draft at the Cabinet.”

The government plans to implement the new guidelines from the next season.

The fungus grows at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 metres and is harvested between May and June, right before the monsoon starts.

Tens of thousands of Nepali villagers flock to the Himalayan foothills in 12 mountain districts in Nepal’s Mid- and Far West to collect the fungus. They travel for days to the highlands and live there for up to two months in tents.

The draft guidelines have proposed allowing only 30 days in a year for a person to harvest yarsa in any month from mid-April to mid-June.

The collectors should be above 16 years of age, according to the proposed instructions. One person will be issued a collection permit once a year.

According to the draft guidelines, a camp will be set up in the highlands in coordination with the local government, local administration, security personnel, health agency and consumer committee for proper management and security.

The camp will provide drinking water, manage the garbage and provide primary health services and security.

The yarsa pickers will be barred from setting up tents other than in areas designated by the national park authorities.

People will be barred from using plastic of less than 40 microns. They will not be allowed to light fires or dig pits. People will be barred from playing music and movies in the areas.

The yarsa quota will be fixed.

“The objective of the new guidelines is also to analyse the data and assist with the sources of origin, particularly for trade,” said Dhungana.

Amid the rush to collect the prized yarsagumba, undesirable incidents occur. Every year, disputes erupt between locals and Nepalis from other districts who enter the camp to collect the fungus. In 2012, one such dispute escalated into the murder of seven people.

Many collectors also die from exposure to harsh climatic conditions.

“Yarsa is associated with a long tradition, and there is a need for proper guidelines to assess not only their values but also assist people with safety and security in the highlands,” said Dhungana.

Several reports have shown that caterpillar fungus populations have been declining at an alarming rate each passing year due to over-harvesting.

On October 31, 2019, the fungus was included in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an international organisation working in the field of nature conservation.

The IUCN has put yarsa in a vulnerable category because of excessive harvesting.

The world environment body said caterpillar fungus populations have declined by at least 30 percent over the past 15 years due to over-harvesting.

Besides Nepal, the fungus is found in northern India, Bhutan and the Tibetan plateau of China.

The IUCN said that implementing a sustainable harvest programme was needed both for the caterpillar fungus and for the long-term economic health of the communities that depend on it for income.

The major threat is the largely unregulated large-scale and increasing harvest of the fungus throughout its range fuelled by high demand and increasingly high prices.

Besides over-collection by humans, there are numerous other minor threats.

Since the legalisation of yarsa trade in Nepal in 2001, trade volume has increased consistently, reaching a peak of 2,442.4 kg in 2009 and subsequently declining to 1,170.8 kg in 2011.

Every summer when the snow melts and the grass begins to sprout, tens of thousands of people begin their seasonal journey to high-altitude pastures in search of the valuable fungus, braving the cold weather and altitude sickness.

Roving groups of people, which include men, women and children, set up camps and spend months combing alpine ranges above 3,500 metres inch-by-inch for the caterpillar fungus. This cycle runs for almost a month before the monsoon arrives in mid-July.

Locals compare the seasonal activity to a “gold harvest”, as thousands of people from the mountains make nearly 60 percent of their annual income by selling the collected fungus.

Until 2001, collecting yarsa was illegal. The government lifted the ban after the fungus started to become an income source for mountain communities, but imposed a royalty of Rs20,000 per kg.

The royalty was increased to Rs30,000 per kg. The fee depends on the category of the collector—local, neighbour and other districts.

Demand for yarsa reportedly started to soar after the 1993 World Athletics Championship, during which Chinese athletes had set new world records.

It was presumed that Chinese athletes were consuming yarsagumba as a tonic, which enhanced their performance, according to a Nepal Rastra Bank research report.

The ensuing high demand for the fungus meant that its price went from just about $5 a kilo in 1992 to $1,400 in 2002. In 2012, a kilo was worth $100,000 in China and Hong Kong, the major markets for the fungus, according to data from the central bank.

In 2016, the herb was sold for as much as $130,000 a kilo in Singapore.

Nepal Rastra Bank estimates that Nepal raised about $50 million in 2016 from the sale of the fungus, which is estimated to have a global production of between 83 and 183 tonnes, worth between $5 billion and $11 billion annually.

During the heyday, Nepal exported more than 3 tonnes of yarsa and was the world’s second largest producer after China.

The trade, however, has been declining. In the last fiscal year, 683 kg of yarsa worth Rs443.19 million was exported, mainly to Cambodia, China, the United States, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, according to Nepal Rastra Bank.

A yarsa collector can earn about Rs103,000 a year, which is a lot more money than what they would make from other economic activities.

A family earns about Rs277,000 annually, which amounts to 56 percent of its total yearly income, according to the central bank’s research report.

It was a sunny morning on Tuesday when a Mexican family excitedly took off on a helicopter tour of Everest. They had seen many videos of the world’s highest peak on YouTube, and wanted to go and see it by themselves.

So the father, mother, son and two daughters arrived in Nepal from Mexico, and booked a helicopter tour to the 8,848.86-metre giant.

“They were very excited to make a helicopter tour of the breathtaking Everest,” said Captain Prakash Kumar Sedhain, a flight safety director at Manang Air. “Unfortunately, it ended in disaster.”

The monsoon is not a good time for climbing expeditions to the Himalaya or trekking in the mountains. The weather is bad, the trekking routes slippery, so hiking is full of risks. But a few enthusiasts go on helicopters to get a close look at the soaring heights of rock and ice.

On Tuesday morning, the Mexican family fulfilled a long-held wish with a nearly hour-long tour of Everest with Manang Air. Their helicopter then made a stop at Surke, a mountain village south of Everest, to refuel for the return flight to Kathmandu.

Surke village, which lies at an altitude of 2,300 metres, is situated near the famed Lukla Airport which is the starting-off point for Everest expeditions.

At 10:05 am, the helicopter carrying the Mexican family took off from Surke for Kathmandu, and was lost immediately after. According to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the chopper made its last contact with Lukla Airport tower at 10:13 am.

It took rescuers five hours to locate the site where the craft had gone down, killing all on board. The Manang Air helicopter bearing registration number 9N-AMV had slammed into a hillside at Lamjura.

The crash site lies at an elevation of about 3,500 metres in Likhupike Rural Municipality of Solukhumbu district. At 5.30 pm, all six bodies were airlifted to Kathmandu for postmortem.

The five Mexican passengers and Captain Chet Bahadur Gurung, who was flying the helicopter, were killed, said Dipak Kumar Shrestha, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Solukhumbu District Police Office.

“The weather was not good. It was raining heavily at the site where the chopper had crashed. It looks like the accident was caused by bad weather.”

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed sorrow over the crash.

The exact reason behind the catastrophe is not known, and a government fact-finding commission is to launch a detailed investigation. A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening announced an investigation commission led by Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism.