Everest Plane Crash Kills 18 Tourists in Nepal

I was interrupted in my meeting on Wednesday 8 October at around 4pm when I received a few sms messages from fellow trekkers; one of them is from Tammy Lim who would be going trekking in Sikkim, India this Saturday, 11 October 2008.

sms message:
Breaking News - Yeti Airlines twin Otter crashes at the Tenzing-Hillary airport, Lukla, killing at least 18 people.

Immediately, my concentration was shifted to the small airport of Lukla – the scene of the accident. When I went for my maiden trekking in Cho La Pass, Nepal (Everest side) in May 2007, landing at Lukla airport was truly an experience. Within three seconds, the small airplane was precariously landed, much to the applause of those passengers sitting in the narrow cabin.

My deepest sympathy and condolences to the demised trekkers, whom I believe, have spent countless hours of pain (or joy) in the preparation process only to be greeted with death before the first foot forward (… of journey of a thousands steps that start with the first step).
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Click here for more scenery of Cho La Pass trekking trip by KC:

I made It... The Journey ... Lodges
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Here are the photos showing the runways taken by yours truly (KC) during the Cho La Pass trekking trip.

This is the runway of the airport in Lukla; it is very short, slopping downwards to an abrupt end
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One plane prepares to take off
. The downward slope aids in gaining momentum and uplift trust. Likewise, it helps to slow the plane during landing - what a genius idea !! Notice the barb-wire fencing at the foreground of the photo.
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Point of no return - we have a successful take off !!
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My Cho La Pass experience: We were stranded at Lukla for three days due to bad weather (after completing the trekking trip). The team decided to chartered a helicopter to fly us out of Lukla to Kathmandu in order to catch the Thai Aiways home the following day. Arrangement was made with the help of Cheban, the trusted Trek and Tour agent. It costed each trekker extra USD 500 !!
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While I was in the helicopter, this is the point of no return. Of course, with the vertical take off, it is not that critical compared to airplane.
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Posted by KC
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Texts and photos below are extracted from AFP Press

KATHMANDU (AFP) — A passenger plane crashed on landing at a remote airfield in Nepal's Everest region on Wednesday, killing 18 people most of whom were German tourists, Nepalese officials said.

The Yeti Airlines aircraft, flying from the capital Kathmandu to Lukla in eastern Nepal, burst into flames after crash-landing near the sloping runway in heavy cloud, witnesses reported.

The drama began to unfold at 07.31 when the pilot was about to land. The doomed aircraft lost altitude too quickly and crash landed, hitting the perimeter boundary. It immediately burst into flames.
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The remains of a Yeti Airlines DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter plane burns, as people stand around it at Lukla airport, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Mount Everest, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. A small airplane crashed and caught fire Wednesday as it tried to land in foggy weather at a tiny mountain airport near Mount Everest, killing 18 people, including 16 tourists from Germany, Australia and Nepal, officials said. Only one person, the pilot, survived.

Of the 19 people on board, 14 were foreigners and five were Nepalese, and only one -- the Nepalese pilot of the Twin Otter plane -- survived, airport official Mohan Adhikari said.

Security staff and volunteers took two hours to extinguish the fire in the wreckage of the plane.

Hundreds of tourists and residents from Lukla, 140 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, watched the recovery operation, many in tears.

"I saw the plane start its descent, then cloud came in and we heard a loud noise and saw flames," said Bijaya Pratap Singha, a tour manager.

"We ran down to the end of the runway and saw everything was scattered and the plane was on fire."

Local officials told reporters the crash had been due to heavy cloud.

When the weather is clear, dozens of flights land every day at Lukla's Tenzing-Hillary airport, a gateway to Nepal's Everest region used by trekkers and mountaineers.

The airport was earlier this year renamed after Mount Everest's first conquerors, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
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The crash site at Lukla, Nepal.

Just 20 metres (66 feet) wide and 550 metres long, its runway perches on a hillside at an angle of around 11 degrees and was built using funds from Hillary's Himalayan Trust.

Fast moving weather patterns at the tiny airport -- which is 2,757 metres above sea level -- mean bad weather frequently halts operations.

"We are devastated to hear of this accident," Ang Tsering Sherpa, the president of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations, told AFP.

"In the season there are up to 50 flights per day into Lukla so the pilots are very used to landing there."

Flights from Kathmandu to Lukla take just over half an hour.

The pilot who survived Wednesday's crash was flown to an intensive care unit in Kathmandu, where doctors said he was in a stable condition.

The route from Kathmandu to Lukla. The 150 kilometre flight should take just 30 minutes.

Yeti is a privately owned domestic airline founded in 1998 and which prides itself on running a service to many far-flung destinations across Nepal.

It has previously provided essential transport links to national and international relief teams working in Nepal as well as carrying many tourists.

The tourism trade is a major foreign currency earner for impoverished Nepal and since the end of a civil war in 2006 between the country's Maoists and the government, numbers of visitors have increased.

This year around 500,000 tourists are expected, the highest number since 1999, with many coming to trek in the stunning Himalayan mountains that form Nepal's northern border with Chinese-controlled Tibet.

The Everest Base Camp trek -- where tourists fly into Lukla and walk for around two weeks -- is one of the most popular routes.


Posted by KC