Remember the 14 person crash in Nepal–and that mysterious unnamed 15th fatality?
The fifteenth fatality missed the plane. While in Katmandu, the tourist named E Wols booked a seat on the Agni Air flight to Lukla, but luckily she missed it, and missed being the fifteenth fatality.
The remains of the victims have been airlifted to Kathmandu.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Vivek Manvi
What: Agni Air Dornier 228-101 en route from Katmandu to Lukla
Where: Bastipur, ~18nm SSW of Kathmandu, Nepal
When: Aug 24, 2010
Who: 14 aboard, 14 fatalities. 11 passengers, 3 crew (At one point there was an announcement of an additional passenger whose nationality was unknown. This is unconfirmed.)
Why: Due to poor weather conditions in Katmandu, the crew diverted to Simara Airport. ATC lost contact at 7.30 am. The plane’s generator had been causing problems and it failed, then the backup generator failed. Without a generator, the pilot is flying blind, without avionics. The flight crashed at 9000 feet in a hillside near Bastipur in Shikhapur.
Other reports say the engine failed.
The casualties were Capt. Lucky Shah, co-pilot Sophia Singh, flight attendant Sahara Sherpa, and passengers R Rijal, P Humagain, P Bhote, K Rai and P Sherpa.
Six foreigners were aboard:four Americans: Irina Shekhets (30), Levzi Cordoso (49), Heather Finch (40), and Kendra Fallon (18), one Japanese: Yuki Hayashe (19) and a Brit: Jeremy Taylor (30) .
This is monsoon season, and the area is remote, and roads many roads are blocked due to landslides. Villagers report scattered plane parts and body parts, and rescue teams are en route.