A pilot was killed and two crew members of a Nepalese cargo aircraft were injured after their craft crashed while landing in the Mount Everest region, PTI reported on Saturday. Officials said bad weather may have caused the crash.
“The Czech-manufactured LET-410 plane belonging to the domestic airline Goma Air crashed while landing at Tenzing–Hillary Airport, also known as Lukla Airport, the gateway to the Mount Everest region,” said a senior manager at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport.
The 9N-AKY aircraft was carrying cargo at the time of the incident, Prem Thakur, TIA spokesperson told The Himalyan Times. Police identified the pilot as Paras Kumar Rai, a resident of Nepal’s Bhojpur district. Co-pilot Shreejan Manandhar and flight attendant Pragya Manandhar were injured during the accident and are undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Locals have joined the Nepali Army and police personnel in the rescue operation, officials said.
The airport is considered to be the most dangerous in the world. Nepal has a dismal safety track record, which observers attribute to poor maintenance, inexperienced pilots and poor management, AFP reported.
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