Nepal earthquake: Troops continue to search for missing US chopper with eight aboard

Kathmandu: The search for the missing US Marine helicopter with eight people aboard continued on Wednesday, a day after fresh earthquake hit Nepal and wreaked havoc.

The UH-1Y Huey, which was carrying out earthquake relief work in Nepal, went missing near Charikot yesterday after it dropped off essential supplies like tarps and rice and was headed towards another direction.

Six US Marines and two Nepalese Army soldiers were aboard when it went missing.

Before losing contact, the missing Huey aircraft crew was heard talking about fuel problems.

The US Marines took to Twitter to update about the search operation and tweeted, “#Marine helos are in the air w/ @PacificCommand's JTF-505 in search for missing Huey in Nepal”.

#Marine helos are in the air w/ @PacificCommand's JTF-505 in search for missing Huey in Nepal Semper Fi, Marines https://t.co/xNicuEh5x1 — U.S. Marines (@USMC) May 13, 2015

The search operation resumed today morning after an initial air search last night failed to trace the missing aircraft.

Yesterday's earthquake brought fresh terror and claimed more lives in Nepal, which is yet to recover from the massive quake which caused devastation last month.

The missing chopper is part of the dozen US military aircraft deployed to aid relief operations in the quake-struck country.