Ten people were killed in the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) helicopter crash last Monday, Ian Martin, special representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal said.

 Required to "definitely confirm that there were ten people killed" in the crash as UNMIN's former press release claimed, Ian Martin clarified, "Yes, and I believe that the Home Ministry itself confirmed that it is ten. I think that arose because there were passengers on the original manifest who, fortunately, at the last moment, for various reasons, were not on the flight. So that caused the initial confusion."

 Ian Martin, briefly remarked to the media on Tuesday afternoon at Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepali capital Kathmandu, after receiving the bodies of UNMIN personnel and helicopter crew from the crash site in Ramechhap district, some 40 km east of Kathmandu.

 Ian Martin said it was "a very, very sad day for UNMIN, for the United Nations family in Nepal and for the United Nations family around the world."

 Ian Martin thanked those Nepalis who have sent messages of condolences to UNMIN, and thanked Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who telephoned him personally very soon after the crash was known.

 Ian Martin said, UNMIN's first concern is for the families of those who have died. UNMIN has released the names of three UNMIN Nepalese colleagues who died, after it had informed their families.

 Formerly, a third press release from UNMIN on the incident has said, Bhim Bahadur Gurung and Rabindra Khaniya, liaison officer and language assistant respectively with the UNMIN Arms Monitoring Office, and Rajesh Maharjan, an UNMIN vehicle mechanic died in the incident.

 "We are not able to release the names of international personnel until we know that their families have been officially notified in their countries," Ian Martin explained to the media.

 "Four international arms monitors died in the accident, from Gambia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Sweden. The air crew, from a Russian company, comprised two Russians and one Belarussian," the press release issued on Tuesday noon informed, "The United Nations has notified the respective Permanent Missions of each of the countries of deceased UN international personnel, and they are in the process of contacting the families."

 The chopper with the registration number UN 301 MIL8, crashed in the vicinity of Bethan Village Development Committee (VDC) of Ramechhap district, a hilly district of Nepali Central Development Region.

 Formerly in UNMIN's first press release, it has said that at about 4 p.m. local time (1015 GMT) on Monday, UNMIN lost contact with the Mission helicopter which was returning to Kathmandu from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) cantonment site at Sindhuli district, some 80 km east of Nepali capital Kathmandu.

 UNMIN is monitoring the peace process in Nepal. In November, 2006, the then Nepali government and CPN-M signed Comprehensive Peace Accord, and CPN-M arms were confined in seven main cantonments and 21 satellite camps monitored by the United Nations.