Nepal tourist plane crash kills all 14 on board
The plane was reportedly called back because of bad weather
A passenger plane has crashed into hills outside Nepal’s capital in heavy rain, killing all 14 people on board.
The Dornier plane went down near Shikharpur village, 80km (50 miles) south of Kathmandu.
It was carrying 11 passengers, six of them foreigners. Four were Americans, one British and one Japanese, officials later confirmed. Three crew also died.
Witnesses said the Agni Air plane had broken into small pieces.
A crisis centre has been set up in Kathmandu airport to co-ordinate rescue efforts.
Officials say they have now recovered the remains of six bodies, which have been brought back to a hospital in the capital.
Heavy rain meant that helicopters were unable to reach the remote crash site for several hours.
‘Shocked’
The plane had been flying to Lukla, a popular trekking spot in the Mount Everest region of eastern Nepal.
The airline authority said the plane was called back because of the bad weather.
At 12 nautical miles from Kathmandu airport, the plane radioed in and said it was beginning its descent. Radar contact was lost at 10 nautical miles.
A witness said the plane broke into pieces upon impact.
“There are small pieces of the plane all over the field and you can see body parts. We are all so shocked,” villager Pratap Lama told the Kantipur radio station earlier on Tuesday.
Eighteen people, including 12 Germans, were killed when a small plane crashed in 2008 in Lukla.
The 550m-long (1,800ft) sloping airstrip at Lukla perched on a hillside some 2,800m above sea level, with a steep 700m drop at one end, is considered one of the most difficult landings in the world