Nepal police find wreckage of crashed plane, all 18 on board dead

Kathmandu, Feb 17: The wreckage of a missing Nepal Airlines plane carrying 18 people was found on Monday in the country's mountainous west and rescuers are trying to ascertain if there is any survivor. The Twin Otter was found crashed at Masine Lek in Arghakhanchi district.

“We have found the aircraft crashed in the site, but it is yet to be confirmed, whether the passengers and crew members survived or not,” Nepal Police spokesman Ganesh KC said.

According to media reports, no one is believed to have survived in the crash.

Security personnel located the crash site after tracking the mobile phone carried by Captain Shanker Shrestha. The 19-seater plane carrying 15 passengers including an infant and three crew members lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off from the popular tourist town of Pokhara on Sunday.

The aircraft from the state-run carrier was travelling to the town of Jumla.

Heavy rain hampered Sunday's efforts to locate the plane with two helicopters forced to turn back because of bad weather. One of the passengers was from Denmark and the rest were from Nepal, said airline spokesman Ram Hari Sharma.