A Marine helicopter based at Camp Pendleton was reported missing in Nepal Tuesday, while four nurses and a team leader from Scripps Health in San Diego were said to be safe following a second major earthquake in the Himalayan country.
The UH-1Y Huey, with two Nepalese soldiers and six U.S. Marines on board, disappeared over the town of Charikot, according to a statement from Army Maj. Dave Eastburn, spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command.
The Marines, attached to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 at Camp Pendleton, were performing a humanitarian mission at the time, Eastburn said.
Additional U.S. forces are responding to the emergency, he said.
The contingent from Scripps Health was reported to be OK. They’ve been in Nepal for more than a week, treating hundreds victims of the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck April 25.
Most of their time has been spent in remote mountain villages, northwest of the capital of Kathmandu, that were devastated by the first quake, which killed more than 7,000 people and injured thousands more.
The quake Tuesday was measured at magnitude-7.3, and reportedly killed around 70 people.
—City News Service
