NEPAL/FILE: A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashes in Nepal, killing nineteen
Record ID:
382680
NEPAL/FILE: A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashes in Nepal, killing nineteen
- Title: NEPAL/FILE: A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashes in Nepal, killing nineteen
- Date: 26th September 2011
- Summary: MT EVEREST, NEPAL (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MT EVEREST
- Embargoed: 11th October 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nepal
- Country: Nepal
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVA58D20D49EEB7NE4JF3CM4D9BD
- Story Text: A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashed in bad weather near Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Sunday (September 25), killing all 19 people on board, officials said.
Kathmandu Airport officials said there were 16 passengers and three crew on board the plane. There were 10 Indian, two American, one Japanese , and three Nepali passengers and three Nepali crew members on board.
Of the injured, police said they rushed one survivor to hospital, but the man died during treatment.
Police said rescuers had recovered all bodies but helicopters were unable to land near the crash site due to bad weather. Once the helicopters land the bodies are due to be taken to the Teaching Hospital for post-mortem.
A Reuters photographer, who reached the hilltop crash site through a wet and slippery mud road, saw badly damaged bodies of the victims, mobile phones, shoes and other belongings scattered on a slope.
The plane has broken into several pieces and black smoke was rising from the debris, he said.
The Beech aircraft owned by Buddha Air, a private airline, was flying to Kathmandu after a mountain flight to Everest.
Kathmandu and its surrounding hills were enveloped in late monsoon clouds early on Sunday.
The last plane crash in Nepal was in December last year, when a Twin Otter aircraft hit the Himalayan foothills of remote west Nepal, killing all 22 people onboard.
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountain peaks, including Everest.
Tens of thousands of hikers and foreign tourists go to Mount Everest and other trekking routes to see the lofty Himalayan peaks every year.
Those who cannot hike the rugged hilly trails to the mountains use mountain flights operated by different airlines to see the Himalayas.
Tourism, a key source of earning for impoverished Nepal, accounts for nearly four percent of the gross domestic product and employs tens of thousands of people, among the poorest in the world. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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