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Plane crashes in Nepal enroute to Everest, killing 19 Plane carrying Britons crashes in Nepal, killing 19
(about 1 hour later)
A plane carrying trekkers into the Everest region crashed just after takeoff on Friday morning in Nepal's capital, killing all 19 people on board, authorities said. 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.
The pilot reported trouble two minutes after takeoff, and Katmandu airport official Ratish Chandra Suman said the plane appeared to have been trying to turn back to the airport. Suman said he could not confirm if the plane was already on fire before it crashed. Five other tourists, believed to be from China, also died along with four Nepali passengers and the plane's crew.
The twin-engine propeller plane belonging to domestic Sita Air crashed onto open ground near the Manohara River on the southwest edge of Katmandu. The morning weather was clear. The plane, a twin engined Dornier run by the local Sita Air, crashed on the banks of Manohara River at 6.18am.
Firefighters brought the fire in the wreckage under control and police rescuers were trying to pull out the bodies, Katmandu airport police chief Narayan Bastakoti said. The seven Britons had arrived in Nepal on Wednesday for a trek in the Khumbu Region around Mount Everest.
Seven passengers were British while five were Chinese, Bastakoti said. The other three passengers and the four crew members were from Nepal. According to Sherpa Adventure Travel, the Kathmandu-based tour company which organised their trip, they were due to return on 16 October.
The plane was heading for Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest. Thousands of Westerners make treks in the region around the world's highest peak each year. Autumn is considered the best time to trek the foothills of the Himalayan peaks. 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 crash follows an avalanche on another Nepal peak Sunday that killed seven foreign climbers and a Nepali guide. 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.