Plane crash kills 15 in Nepal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Fifteen passengers died on Monday, May 14, when a plane carrying Indian pilgrims crashed near a treacherous high-altitude airport in northern Nepal, while six made a miraculous escape, police said, according to AFP.

The Agni Air plane plunged into a hill close to Jomsom near the Annapurna mountain range, police spokesman Binod Singh said.

"The plane was about to land at Jomsom airport. It hit a muddy slope and the plane is now buried in the side of the hill," he said.

"Fifteen people have been killed. Thirteen of them were Indian tourists and the other two were Nepali pilots. There are six survivors, among them one Nepali air hostess," he added.

Agni Air marketing manager Pramod Pandey said two Danish nationals were among the passengers, although their condition was not known.

The crash was the second deadly air accident for Agni Air in less than two years.

In August 2010 one of the private carrier's Everest-bound planes crashed in bad weather near Kathmandu, killing all 14 people on board, including four Americans, a Japanese and a British national.

The craft had been returning to Kathmandu after poor visibility prevented it from landing at Lukla, its intended destination in a popular trekking spot in eastern Nepal.

Air travel is popular in Nepal, which has only a very limited road network. Many communities, particularly in the mountains and hills, are accessible only on foot or by air.

Aviation accidents are relatively common, particularly during the summer monsoon, when visibility is usually at its worst.