Two foreigners and the pilot were among the four persons killed when a helicopter belonging to a private company, crashed at Alani Nallah, four kilometres from the tourist town of Manali, this morning minutes after take-off.The crash occurred at around 7.45 am when private helicopter VT-HIM, belonging to Himalayan Heli-skiing Company, took off for Setan Hill from Hotel Holiday Inn, Prini. On its way back to the helipad, the chopper, according to eye-witnesses, hit a ropeway used for carrying apple-boxes and then crashed into a tree.The debris lay strewn along the banks of Aleo Nallah below the Pirni-Manali highway, just one km away from the residence of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.The pilot was identified as Capt Krishan Tomar (34) from Panchkula near Chandigarh, while the two foreign tourists were John Murphy, an Irish national and Castino, a Columbian national. The fourth victim was Madhvi Gautam, a receptionist in a local hotel.Erody Mechanzi, an Australian national and the main organiser of heli-skiing in Kullu valley, said the company had a valid licence from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) that was valid up to December, 2003. Mechanazi added that the company did not require permission from Air Traffic Controller (ATC) as they could fly within five km of the base.
