10 Indians among 19 killed in plane crash in Nepal

Kathmandu (PTI) - Ten Indians were among 19 people
killed on Sunday when a small plane carrying them crashed and
broke into pieces at Kotdanda hills near the Nepalese capital
while returning from a sight-seeing trip around Mount Everest.
The Beechcraft plane (BHA 103), which crashed at 7.30 am
local time, belonged to the private Buddha Air airline,
according to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
All 19 people aboard the plane, including 10 Indians, two
Americans and a Japanese national, were killed in the crash,
officials said.
Among those killed was a Nepalese passenger, who
initially survived the crash but succumbed to his wounds in
hospital after being rescued from the accident site at
Kotdanda near Bishankhunarayan Temple in Lalitpur district,
located 20 km east of the capital.
Apart from 13 foreigners, the plane was carrying three
Nepalese passengers and a three-member crew, according to the
Rescue Coordination Centre, Tribhuvan International Airport,
under the CAAN.
The aircraft, which had taken tourists to view Mount
Everest and other high peaks, crashed and broke into pieces at
Kotdanda hills minutes after losing contact with the control
tower.
The rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather in the
region.
The Indian nationals killed in the crash were identified
as Pankaj Mehta and his wife Chhaya, and eight men from Tamil
Nadu -- M V Marathachalam, M Manimaran, V M Kanakasabesan, A K
Krishnan, R M Minaxi Sunsaram, K Thiyagarajan, T Dhanasekaran
and Kattoos Mahalingam.
57-year-old Mehta was working as chief of the health
section of UNICEF, Kathmandu.
According to Mehta's colleagues here, the couple had been
here for the past three years and had possibly come from
Gujarat.
The eight tourists from Tamil Nadu were staying at Hotel
Grand at Tahachal, according to the hotel's Sales Manager
Phurba Sherpa.
The two Americans killed were identified as Andrew Wade
and Natalie Neilan, while the Japanese national was identified
as Ujima Toshinori.
The three crew members killed in the crash were Captain J
D Tamrakar, Captain P Adhikari and air hostess A Shrestha.
A Simrik Airlines helicopter landed at the accident site
at Kotdanda and transported the dead to Kathmandu, according
to Chief District Officer Ratna Raj Pandey.
Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijaya
Kumar Gachhadar visited the Tribhuvan International Airport
here to take stock of the situation, especially handling of
the bodies.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has formed a
three-member team, headed by former CAAN Director General
Jajeshraj Dali, to investigate the crash.
In a statement, the Indian embassy here expressed
profound grief over the death of the Indian nationals in the
crash.
Bodies of all ten Indians were taken to TU Teaching
Hospital after being flown to Kathmandu.
Quoting witnesses, local TV channels said flames could be
seen coming from the plane just before it crashed.
Buddha Air offers an 'Everest Experience' package under
which it takes tourists around 8848-metre high Mount Everest,
the world's tallest mountain, for sightseeing.
In December last year, a Twin Otter plane carrying 22
people, mostly Bhutanese nationals and an American, crashed
after taking off from a small airstrip 140 km east of
Kathmandu.
Earlier in November, a helicopter, which was on a mission
to rescue two stranded climbers, crashed near Mount Everest,
killing two people.
Three months before this accident, a plane going to the
Everest region crashed in bad weather, killing all 14 people
on board, including four Americans, a Japanese and a British
national.