По материалам Лента.Ru и The Age.

Lenta.Ru

Самолет компании Yeti Airlines, на борту которого находились 19 человек, в том числе 14 иностранцев, потерпел крушение при заходе на посадку в аэропорту Луклы (Lukla). В результате катастрофы погибли 18 человек, спастись удалось лишь одному - непальцу по национальности. В каком состоянии находится выживший, не уточняется. Гражданство погибших пассажиров пока не известно.

The Age

Two Victorians were among 18 people killed when a small plane crashed and burst into flames as it tried to land at a notorious airstrip in the Everest region of Nepal today.

A spokesman for Yeti Airlines, Vinay Shakya, released the names of two people he said were the dead Australians. One is Charlene Zamudio. The Age has withheld the name of a dead man because he has family who may not have been contacted by Australian officials.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said both of the Australians on the flight list were from Victoria but the department would not be releasing their names.

Twelve Germans and four Nepalis were also killed in the accident. The pilot survived but sustained head injuries and was flown to the capital, Kathmandu.

Mohan Adhikari, general manager of the Kathmandu airport, who was in charge of the emergency response to the accident, said the 19-seater Yeti Airlines Twin Otter snagged its wheels on a security fence on approach to the airport and smashed into the airstrip, catching fire.

The flight had taken off from Kathmandu for Lukla Airport, about 60 kilometres from Mt Everest, Mr Adhikari said.

He said the weather had been poor in the area and may have been a factor in the crash. He said visibility at Lukla Airport was about 400 metres, just enough for the aircraft’s landing, he said.

Lukla is Nepal’s business domestic airport, and the arrival point for many Everest region trekkers and mountaineers. The airstrip, which the Nepal Government this year renamed Tenzing-Hillary Airport, after Everest’s first conquerors, is notorious for its short, steep landing strip amid towering Himalayan peaks. It is 2860m above sea level.

In June, 1991, a Royal Nepal Airlines Twin Otter 300 flying from Kathmandu crashed as it tried to land at Lukla in poor weather, killing three crew and 14 passengers.

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