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Plane carrying Britons crashes in Nepal, killing 19 | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Seven Britons were among nineteen people killed early this morning when a small plane crashed soon after take off from Kathmandu airport, Nepal, possibly after hitting an large bird of prey. | |
Five other tourists, believed to be from China, also died along with four Nepali passengers and the plane's crew. | |
The plane, a twin engined Dornier run by the local Sita Air, crashed on the banks of Manohara River at 6.18am. | |
The seven Britons had arrived in Nepal on Wednesday for a trek in the Khumbu Region around Mount Everest. | |
According to Sherpa Adventure Travel, the Kathmandu-based tour company which organised their trip, they were due to return on 16 October. | |
No immediate cause was obvious, the deputy police chief at the Tribhuvan international airport (TIA) superintendent Rabiraj Shrestha said, but hitting a large bird may be one possibility. | |
The weather was clear. | |
Shreshtra said that rubbish dumped along the sides of the airport attracted large numbers of birds and a dead eagle was recovered from among the wreckage. | |
"A bird might have been sucked into the engine and caused problems due to which the pilot might have took decision for emergency landing and as a result the plane crashed," he told reporters. | |
Eye witnesses say fire caught as soon as the plane had emergency landing at the bank of Manohara river. | |
The flight's destination was the small airstrip of Lukla which is the start of many popular treks in the Everest region. | |
Late September and October are favoured periods for walking and mountaineering in the Nepali Himalayan ranges as the summer rains have cleared and winter temperatures are yet to bite. | |
With hazardous weather conditions common and complex terrain, accidents are common. Regulation of the domestic aviation sector in poverty-stricken Nepal is lax. Rubbish beside the runway of a busy airport would normally be considered a significant hazard. | |
In 2011 September, 19 people including 16 tourists were killed when Buddha Air crashes returning from a flight on a similar route. | |
In August 2010, fourteen passengers including four Americans, a Briton and a Japanese nationals were killed after a plane heading to the Everest region crashed due to bad weather. | |
Similarly, in December 2010, all 22 passengers were killed when another plane came down. |