Helicopter with 6 onboard vanishes minutes after takeoff in Himalayan mountains as cops launch search & rescue mission

A HELICOPTER with six people on board has vanished near Mount Everest. The chopper – carrying five foreign nationals and the pilot – went missing shortly after taking off from Surke Airport in Nepal. GettyA helicopter has gone missing over the Himalayan mountains[/caption] It dropped off the radar at 10.13am local time at an altitude above 12,000 feet – minutes after it departed at 10.05am. Six passengers are on board the chopper – understood to be five Mexican nationals and a pilot. The last known GPS location of the helicopter showed it somewhere in the Lamjura Pass, Gyanendra Bhul, Manager at the Tribhuvan International Airport, told the Himalayan Times. It is operated by private company Manang Air and was heading for Kathmandu when it lost contact. A search and rescue team has been scrambled on a helicopter in a bid to locate the missing aircraft. Authorities are also frantically monitoring and analysing the chopper’s GPS system to try to pinpoint its location. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal tweeted: “Manang Air helicopter 9N-AMV (AS 50) which departed from Surke (Solukhumbu) to Kathmandu at 10:05 local time is out of contact. “Total persons on board: 6 (5 passengers + 1 captain). “Altitude Air helicopter departed from Kathmandu for search and rescue.” THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY… The Sun is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Download our fantastic, new and improved free App for the best ever Sun Online experience. For iPhone click here, for Android click here.  Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSun and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.