ng details. will what a sad find. reporter: michaela absolutely. we re learning that the wreckage of this u.s. marine helicopter was found about 21 miles east of the nepali army command center where i am right now. this is a very remote mountainous area and it s an area where more than 3,000 people have died in the two powerful earthquakes that have rocked nepal in just the last two and a half weeks or so. just very much a tragic news for the searchers who ve been taking off from here searchers from three different countries who have been trying to locate this helicopter. they were hoping it made a hard landing after reporting a fuel problem during a humanitarian aid mission. they hope that perhaps the crew members were alive and just in an area where they couldn t communicate. but this morning the very very sad discovery that in fact there is wreckage there are three burned bodies. and the condition of the helicopter is not good. there are crews on the ground right now on that mount
of the crew. it s really an awful picture that we re painting as we learn more details. on tuesday when this helicopter disappeared, it was conducting a humanitarian mission. hit just dropped off a load of badly needed supplies to the remote mountain villages that have been cut off since the earthquakes. it was on its way back. there was a report of a radio transmission possibly a fuel problem. we believe the helicopter was heading back east towards katmandu from a location about 80 miles. it got within 21 miles of the city. and then of course the helicopter lost contact. was it a fuel issue? did the weather conditions change? those are the questions that investigators are asking whether they head back out to the crash site tomorrow.
made it to the pick up point. there was a radio communication of a possible fuel problem. we know the chopper went down at high altitude. 11,200 feet. on a rugged mountain side. the defense secretary confirmed that three charred bodies have been found near the crash site which indicates the condition of the helicopter which they are calling wreckage of the helicopter is just not good. still no word on the remaining crew members or the identities of the people. six marines and two people from the nepal army. clearly this is not the development anyone was hoping for. there was talk earlier this week because of the reported fuel problem, perhaps they had gone down and used their training to survive until they were rescued. we do know that it is difficult under the best circumstances to fly helicopters at such high
kelly, good morning. what do we know right now about what might have caused it? well we have hints here and there, jose, but we don t know anything definitively as yet. that huey crew was overheard on radio chatter talking about a possible fuel problem before the chopper disappeared, but this morning the task force commander said they could not confirm the cause of the crash yet. at the same time vowing that they would find the cause eventually. a nepalese search team found this crash site. it s in dense forest on a very steep mountain slope at an elevation of 11,000 feet and nepal s defense secretary, excuse me, said that the helicopter was in pieces and that three bodies had been found. so suggesting that there was some catastrophic crash that this helicopter perhaps fell out of the sky. now the task force commander would not confirm that any bodies had been found.
the defense secretary telling cnn three bodies have been found in the charred wreckage of the helicopter. six u.s. marines on the helicopter helping on an aid mission when the pilot radioed about some kind of fuel problem, then contact was lost. cnn s will ripley will join us with details in a few minutes. that helicopter has been found and officials saying three bodies in the charred wreckage. we will bring more as we get it. there is new information on the crash of amtrak 188. the engineer driving the train has been agreed to be interviewed by the ntsbational transportation safety board. 32-year-old brandon bostian was at the controls when the train derail in philadelphia. eight people killed and more than 200 injured. ntsb officials hope bostian can answer the remaining questions. among them why the train accelerated from 70 to over 100