Rescue operations in northern Peru have reportedly found five bodies from the Helinka Evergreen-owned helicopter that disappeared on Monday. The Bell 412B helicopter was transporting 10 people – eight passengers and two pilots – from Rio Tinto’s La Granja copper project, some 560 miles north of Lima in Cajamarca Department, to the coastal city of Chiclayo, capital of Lambayeque Department when airport authorities in Chiclayo lost contact with the chopper, Radioprogramas reported.
A second air unit from Helinka Evergreen found the helicopter on Wednesday in a 600-foot-deep gully in Cajamarca’s Santa Cruz Province. The accident is being blamed on adverse weather in the highlands. Extreme weather had forced Rio Tinto to suspend activities at the La Granja mine for two weeks. Operations restarted recently.
