26/09/2011
KATHMANDU, SEP 25 -
A small plane carrying foreign tourists crashed in a hill south of Kathmandu airport early on Sunday, killing all 19 people aboard including the crew members.
The accident site, Kotdanda, lies between Lamatar and Bisankhunarayan VDCs in Lalitpur, around 15 kilometers south of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Eighteen dead bodies were recovered from the site and one died in B & B Hospital while undergoing treatment, according to SP Bhog Bahadur Thapa, who oversaw rescue operations from the very begenning.
In all, there were 19 people—ten Indians, two Americans, a Japanese, three Nepalis and three Nepali crew members—aboard the Buddha Air Beechcraft. The ill-fated flight was approaching Kathmandu airport in cloudy weather after completing its mountain flight.
Some locals said the plane caught fire shortly before the crash. While others said it flew lower than its usual course before it crashed.
Buddha Air suspended all its scheduled flights for Sunday following the accident. It is the first fatal crash involving a Buddha Air plane. Police moved rescue team to the site after they got a call from the locals near the crash site around 8 a.m.
According to the Buddha Air, Captain JB Tamrakar, Co-pilot Padma Adhikari, Air Hostess Asmita Shrestha were the crew members and Nepali passengers on board have been identified as Sharada Karmacharya, Jagan Karmacharya and Nirajan Karmacharya.
The Indian nationals killed in the aircraft crash are Pankaj Mehta, Chhaya Mehata, S Nagaraja, T Nagaraja, L Nagaraja, HD Nagaraja, D Jalosubrisum, DP Jalosubrisum, P Jalosubrisum, and Nagraja Talosubrisum, said the company.
Similarly, Toshinori Jehma of Japan and US nationals Natali Nailun and Andrew Wade were among those killed in the crash.
The bodies have been taken to TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj for post-mortem. Officials said it might take one more day to complete the autopsy. They were airlifted to the Tribhuvan International Airport earlier today. Authorities are making preperations to hand over the bodies to their relatives.