Kathmandu, Aug.8: The Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Badri Prasad Pandey has said that the work has been moved forward by keeping the issue of air safety as the highest priority. 

The statement was released on Wednesday evening, by the Minister Pandey following a tragic helicopter with a call sign 9 N-AJD crash that resulted in the deaths of four Chinese nationals and one Nepalese national. 

He said that a serious attention has been drawn to the complaint of unnatural delay in the rescue of the helicopter crash which was en route to Rasuwa from Kathmandu collided with a hill at Surya Chaur-7 of Nuwakot district.

The helicopter of Prabhu Helicopter Company was sent for rescue despite the adverse weather as soon as the accident site was identified, read the statement. 

With the conclusion that it was unfortunate that two air accidents occurred in a period of about 15 days, the ministry said that it has started the immediate, mid-term and long-term improvement initiatives from today, keeping the issue of air safety as the highest priority.

He assured that the ministry and its affiliated agencies would be mobilized to implement necessary reforms.