plane crashed in NEPAL jomsom....15 people killed Survive, 6
KATHMANDU - A small plane crashed close to a treacherous high-altitude airport in northern Nepal Monday, killing 15 natives whereas six other people miraculously survived, officers said.
"15 people have been killed. 13 of them are Indian travelers plus the other two were Nepali pilots," police spokesman Binod Singh informed AFP.
He said there had been six survivors, among them a Nepali air hostess, two Indian children and a man who is being treated for head injuries. A Danish couple was also reported to have survived.
The plane had been chartered through a group of Indian pilgrims for a trip from Pokhara in central Nepal to Muktinath, a sacred place for Hindus and Buddhists at the base of the Thorong La Himalayan mountain pass, regional police spokesman Rajendra Singh Bhandari said.
"A Nepal military barracks was near the crash site which complete the rescue of survivors easier," he added, proverb they had been airlifted to hospitals in Pokhara.
Agni Air marketing manager Pramod Pandey confirmed to AFP that 2 passengers from Denmark had been also on the airplane plus he later informed Danish news organization Ritzau that they had survived.
"They are in a stable condition," he reportedly said.
The reason of the crash was not right now clear, but Bimlesh Lal Karna, head of Nepal's national rescue department, said the pilot had reported a warning light flashing in the ring as he descended to Jomsom.
The pilot informed air transfer manage moments before the crash that he was diverting back to Pokhara, said Karna.
"While recurring to Pokhara, the plane seems to have lost balance," Karna informed AFP.
The incident was the second deadly air crash for Agni Air in less than 2 years.
In August 2010, one of its planes crashed in awful climate close to Kathmandu, killing all 14 people on board, counting four Americans, a Japanese plus a British national.
The aircraft had been returning to Kathmandu after poor visibility prevented it from landing at Lukla, its intended vacation spot in a well-liked trekking mark in eastern Nepal.
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai issued a report saying he was "deeply saddened" with the latest crash, while the Indian embassy set up a hotline providing in order for concerned relatives.
"I express condolences to the bereaved families and wish for the quick recuperation of the injured. I urge all those involved in the rescue process to carry on their good work," Bhattarai said.
The latest fatal crash in Nepal -- the fifth in fewer than two years -- will lead to novel inspection of the country's numerous small airlines, which give very important relations to remote areas of the country.
Jomsom Air port, at an height of 2,707 metres (8,880 feet), has a popularity for being one of the world's most dangerous airfields owing to the hilly land on top of the approach.
However, the US-based Trip Safety Foundation, an independent, non-profit, organisation researching air damages across the globe, lists just three deadly crashes at or near the asphalt landing strip as 1970.
In other new accidents in Nepal, a small Buddha Air plane taking tourists on a sightseeing trip around Mount Everest crashed in September last year, killing all 19 people on board.
months earlier, a Tara Air plane carrying three crew plus 19 passengers, including one American, smashed into a mountainside soon after taking off from a small airstrip 140 kilometres east of Kathmandu.
The passengers had been mostly Bhutanese citizens on a spiritual trip of Nepal and had chartered the plane to get them to a Buddhist holy place in the area.
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