18 dead in Nepal crash
By Geoffrey Thomas Sun Feb 16, 2014
There are no survivors from the crash of a Nepal Airlines DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, performing flight RA-183 from Pokhara to Jumla (Nepal) with 15 passengers and 3 crew.
According to AFP Nepalese police have found the wreckage of a missing Nepal Airlines plane carrying 18 people in the country’s mountainous west but there are no survivors.
“The plane crashed into a hill, police have found its wreckage in a village, but no survivors,” Bimlesh Lal Karna, chief air traffic controller at the country’s largest airport in Kathmandu, told AFP.
According to AviationHearld.com the flight departed Pokhara at 12:43 local time but radio contact was lost about 30 minutes later while the aircraft attempted to divert to Siddharthanagar's Bhairahawa Airport.
The aircraft did not arrive at Jumla at the estimated time of arrival of 13:45 local or Bhairahawa Airport, and a search was initiated but hampered by bad weather.
www.AviationHerald.com says that “local residents reporting a burning object and a helicopter located the burning wreckage of the aircraft in the jungles near Khidim about 64km southwest of Pokhara and about 40km north of Siddharthanagar.”
One of the passengers is from Denmark, according to airline spokesman Ram Hari Sharma.The rest of those on board - including Manab Sejuwal, a local politician from the ruling Nepali Congress party - are from Nepal. Neapal Airlines has been downgraded from a two-star airline to one-star by AirlineRatings.co as a result of the crash.
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