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• The helicopter crashed late Tuesday when its rotor blades hit the hillside while returning with survivors of flooding and landslides that have killed more than 1,000 people and washed away thousands of homes, roads and bridges since mid-June in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
• Soldiers using ropes reached the crash site early Wednesday and found the bodies of 20 people, including five air force crew members, Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne told reporters.
• The helicopter's cockpit voice recorder was recovered and an inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash, Browne said.
• Some 45 aircraft have been used in rescue and relief operations, but intermittent rain and dense fog have dogged the efforts since Sunday.
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• JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- A South African archbishop who visited Nelson Mandela in a hospital has offered a prayer in which he wishes for a "peaceful, perfect, end" for the former president and anti-apartheid leader.
• There was no word early Wednesday on 94-year-old Mandela's condition, which was critical a day earlier, according to the government. Outside the Pretoria hospital where he was being treated, well-wishers have left flowers, drawings and messages of support for a man regarded as a symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation in a country that emerged from white minority rule to become a democracy two decades ago.
• "Let's accept instead of crying," said Lucas Aedwaba, a security officer who described Mandela as a hero. "Let's celebrate that the old man lived and left his legacy."
• Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, posted a prayer on Facebook on Tuesday night after visiting the hospital where Mandela is being treated.
• In the prayer, Makgoba asked for courage to be granted to Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, and others who love him "at this hard time of watching and waiting," and he appealed for divine help for the medical team treating Mandela, who was taken to the hospital on June 8 with what the government said was a lung infection. President Jacob Zuma said Mandela's condition, previously described as serious but stable, had deteriorated to critical over the weekend.
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