Twenty-one people aboard a Nepal Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 survived the attempted landing 125 miles NW of Kathmandu.
Everyone aboard survived but everyone was injured. Five of the tourists were seriously injured.
On landing at Jomsom airport at 8:30 a.m., the brakes failed, and the plane skidded to the banks of the Kali Gandaki river. The wheel of the plane slipped off the runway and turned right. The front of the plane was wrecked and in the water. The back appears intact.
Eight passengers were Japanese, and on pilgrimage to Muktinath, a sacred Buddhist site at the foot of the Thorong La Himalayan mountain pass.
The rest of those aboard were Nepali.
An investigation is underway. The accident is currently being attributed to brake failure. Jomsom airport is known as one of the most dangerous on earth.