Tourists among 14 dead in Nepal plane crash

A SMALL passenger plane heading to the Mount Everest region crashed in heavy rain yesterday outside Nepal’s capital, killing all 14 people aboard, including four Americans, a Briton and a Japanese national, officials said.

The private Agni Air plane went down near Shikharpur village, about 80km south of Katmandu, area police chief Ram Bahadur Shrestha said.

The German-built Dornier turboprop airplane was carrying 11 passengers and three crew members.

It was headed to Lukla – a popular stop for trekkers and mountaineers – when cloud cover there forced it to turn back to the capital.

Ram Bahadur Gole, a villager who witnessed the accident, told Avenues Television network that the impact broke the plane into several pieces that were scattered on a hillside.

Tri Ratna Manandhar of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed there were no survivors.

Manandhar said there were four Americans, one Briton and one Japanese aboard, while the remaining passengers and crew were Nepalese.

Agni Air said the foreigners were tourists.

It identified the Americans as Irina Shekhets, 30, Levzi Cordoso, 49, Heather Finch, 40, and Kendra Fallon, 18. The Japanese passenger was Yuki Hayashe, 19, and British, Jeremy Taylor, 30.