KATMANDU: A plane flying 19 people toward Mount Everest went down in flames on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital yesterday, killing everyone on board including seven Britons and five Chinese, police said.
The twin-propeller Sita Air plane had just taken off from Katmandu and was headed to the town of Lukla, gateway to the world’s highest mountain, when it plunged into the banks of a river near the city’s airport around daybreak.
Witnesses described hearing the screams of passengers and seeing flames coming from one of the plane’s wings moments before it hit the ground, while airport authorities said the pilot had reported hitting a bird shortly after take off.
“We could hear people inside the aircraft screaming, but we couldn’t throw water at the plane to put out the fire because we were scared that the engines were about to explode,” Tulasha Pokharel, a 26-year-old housewife who said she one of the first on the scene, said.
Emergency workers lined up the corpses — which included seven Nepalese along with the Britons and Chinese — near the smoldering wreckage as they picked through passengers’ belongings to identify the dead.
A crowd of thousands quickly gathered around the riverbank less than a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport, with many shocked bystanders clutching prayer beads and wailing in anguish as they surveyed the devastation.
“The pilots seem to have tried to land it safely on the banks of the river but unfortunately the plane caught fire,” police spokesman Binod Singh told AFP, adding that the accident occurred at around 6:30 a.m. (0045 GMT).
Although the exact cause of the crash was still unclear, the manager of Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu said the pilot had reported hitting a bird moments before the crash.
“Immediately after the take-off, the air traffic controllers noticed the aircraft making unusual maneuvers,” Ratish Chandra Lal Suman told reporters.
“When the traffic controller asked the pilot about it, he said the plane had struck a bird,” he added.
The crash was the sixth fatal air accident in Nepal in the last two years and it raises fresh questions about safety in the impoverished Himalayan country, home to challenging weather, treacherous landing strips and often lax safety standards.
Ninety-five lives have been lost in air accidents in the last two years, according to an AFP tally, with 15 people killed in the latest crash in May when an Agni Air plane carrying Indian pilgrims went down near northern Jomsom airport.
Six people made a miraculous escape from that accident, including a 30-year-old Danish traveler who survived with nothing more than a bruised leg.
“The record on aircraft flying hours is lax,” said Toya Dahal, an air safety specialist with the Initiative for Aviation Safety in Nepal, a lobby group promoting air safety.
“Also, the airlines don’t conduct routine maintenance,” he added, explaining that they also take risks by flying planes during poor weather conditions.
He cast doubt on the idea that a bird strike had brought down the plane. “A plane with two engines would have landed safely even after it was struck by a bird. If one engine is damaged, another engine can support the aircraft,” he said
“It looks like the pilot, after noticing technical problems, took the best possible decision to force-land the plane.”
The British group, the youngest of whom was 27 and the eldest 60, were traveling to the Khumbu area, their agency Sherpa Adventures told AFP, and they were due to go on a 16-day trek to three high passes and the Everest Base Camp.
Two of the group were brothers Vincent and Darren Kelly while another was their Nepalese tour group leader, the agency told AFP.
A British foreign office spokesman confirmed there had been seven British casualties.
The crash is the second disaster to hit mountaineers in Nepal this week at the start of the autumn climbing season, which is the peak time for visiting Nepal, which has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
On Sunday, at least eight people were killed in an avalanche on Mount Mansalu in northwest Nepal. The search for three other missing climbers was abandoned on Thursday.
19 dead as plane crashes in Nepal
19 dead as plane crashes in Nepal
Winter storm packing snow and strong winds to descend on Great Lakes, Northeast
- The fierce winds on Lake Erie sent water surging toward the basin’s eastern end near Buffalo, New York, while lowering water on the western side in Michigan to expose normally submerged lakebed — even the wreck of a car and a snowmobile
NEW YORK: A wild winter storm was expected to bring strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and Northeast on Tuesday, a day after a bomb cyclone barreled across the northern US and left tens of thousands of customers without power.
The storm that hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday brought sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel. Forecasters said it intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops.
Nationwide, more than 127,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning, more than a third of them in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.us.
BACKGROUND
The storm that hit parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday brought sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain, leading to treacherous travel.
As the storm moved into Canada, the National Weather Service predicted more inclement weather conditions for the Eastern US, including quick bursts of heavy snow and gusty winds known as snow squalls. Blustery winds were expected to add to the arctic chill, with low temperatures dipping below freezing as far south as the Florida panhandle, the agency said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that whiteout conditions were expected Tuesday in parts of the state, including the Syracuse metro area.
“If you’re in an impacted area, please avoid all unnecessary travel,” she said in a post on the social platform X.
Snow piled up quickly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Monday, where as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) fell in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Ryan Metzger said additional snow was expected in the coming days, although totals would be far lighter.
Waves on Lake Superior that were expected to reach 20 feet (6 meters) on Monday sent all but one cargo ship into harbors for shelter, according to MarineTraffic.com.
The fierce winds on Lake Erie sent water surging toward the basin’s eastern end near Buffalo, New York, while lowering water on the western side in Michigan to expose normally submerged lakebed — even the wreck of a car and a snowmobile.
Kevin Aldrich, 33, a maintenance worker from Monroe, Michigan, said he has never seen the lake recede so much and was surprised on Monday to spot remnants of piers dating back to the 1830s. He posted photos on social media of wooden pilings sticking up several feet from the muck.
“Where those are at would typically be probably 12 feet deep,” he said. “We can usually drive our boat over them.”
Dangerous wind chills plunged as low as minus 30 F (minus 34 C) across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota on Monday. And in northeast West Virginia, rare, nearly hurricane-force winds were recorded on a mountain near Dolly Sods, according to the National Weather Service.
In Iowa, after blizzard conditions eased by Monday morning, high winds continued blowing snow across roadways, keeping more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of Interstate 35 closed. State troopers reported dozens of crashes during the storm, including one that killed a person.
On the West Coast, the National Weather Service warned that moderate to strong Santa Ana winds were expected in parts of Southern California through Tuesday, raising concerns about downed trees in areas where recent storms had saturated the soil. Two more storms were forecast later this week, with rain on New Year’s Day potentially soaking the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in about two decades.
