Yeti Airlines Twin Otter crashes, 18 killed (update, 5:30 pm)

A Yeti Airlines Twin Otter has crashed on final approach at the Tenzing-Hillary airport, Lukla, killing 18 people, mostly foreign nationals, Wednesday morning.

According to officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport and Yeti Airlines, only one crew member, the pilot – Surendra Kunwar, survived the tragic accident and has been flown to Kathmandu for medical treatment. He is undergoing treatment at TU Teaching Hospital.

The Twin Otter took off from Kathmandu at 6:51 a.m. and crashed on final approach to Lukla airport at 7:31 a.m., Yeti Airlines confirmed in a statement.

Two other Yeti flights had landed at the airport before the incident.

According to the Airlines, twelve German nationals, two Australians and two Nepali passengers have died in the accident along with co-pilot Bikash Panta and air hostess Sunita Shrestha.

The deceased passengers are A. Frick and C. Kate of Australia, M. Wiess, H. Wiess, A. Thiele, T. Krause, U. Thiele, S. Krause, B. Thorsten, N. Jankoster, A. Blomke, S. Blomke, A. Langanke and J. Sauter of Germany and Govinda Sharma and Santosh Adhikari of Nepal, a Yeti Airlines statement said.

Preparations are underway to bring the dead bodies to capital.

The aircraft caught fire after it crash landed on the sloping airstrip. Local residents and security forces put off the fire in two hours. The plane is completely burnt and has slipped 50m from the crash point.

The exact cause of incident is not known, but Yeti Airlines in its statement, has quoted an eyewitness as stating that it was foggy at the time of the incident.

The airport, about 250 km east of Kathmandu, is the gateway to Everest region used by thousands of trekkers and mountaineers this season.

Meanwhile, the government has formed a five-member committee to probe the incident. The team headed by acting co-attorney general Puspa Raj Koirala includes Ranjit Singh Baral, Subas Baral, Upendra Lal Shrestha and Nagendra Ghimire as members.

The government has asked the committee to submit the report in two months. nepalnews.com dr/ia Oct 08 08