KATHMANDU/TIRUCHY: 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. Eight of them were Tiruchy-based builders.
The Beechcraft plane (BHA 103), which crashed at 7.30 am local time, belonged to the private airline, Buddha Air, according to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
All 19 people aboard the plane, including 10 Indians, two Americans and a Japanese national, were killed in the crash, officials said.
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 Kanagasabesan, A K Krishnan, R M Meenakshi Sundaram, K Thiagarajan, K Dhanasekaran and K Mahalingam. The eight tourists from Tiruchy—all members of the Builders’ Association of India—were in New Delhi from September 21 for an industry conference and had planned in advance for the trip to Nepal, a family member of one of the victims said here.
They were staying at Hotel Grand at Tahachal, according to the hotel’s Sales Manager Phurba Sherpa. Friends of the victims say the eight men had originally planned to view the Everest on Monday and had booked tickets for that day. However, suddenly, they decided to advance their plans by a day and the flight operators consented to take them on Sunday. Among the 12 members from the Builder’s Association, four of them were fortunate, as they had decided to skip the trip and return home immediately.
Mehta, 57, 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.
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. Bodies of all 10 Indians were taken to TU Teaching Hospital after being flown to Kathmandu. Relatives of the victims will go to Nepal to bring back the bodies.