A senior pilot and co-pilot were killed and a crew member injured when a cargo flight of Goma Air crashed as it was trying to land at Lukla Airport on Saturday noon.
Co-pilot Shreejan Manandhar, who was undergoing treatment at Pasang Lhamu-Nicole Niquille Hospital in Lukla, was declared dead at 9:30 on Saturday night, the Hospital sources confirmed.
Injured flight attendant Pragya Maharjan has been airlifted to Grande International Hospital in Kathmandu this morning via Manang Air helicopter.
Captain Paras Rai was already pronounced dead at the hospital yesterday.
The dead bodies of the pilots have also been airlifted to Kathmandu this morning.
Rai's body could not be brought to Kathmandu on Saturday as a chopper sent to rescue them could not land in Lukla due to bad weather.
On duty air traffic controller Ujjwal Tiwari said the plane’s nose hit a mound of earth near the runway as it was preparing to land at 2:05pm. “The plane with call sign 9N-AKY slammed into the mound, fell 100 metres and broke into three pieces,” he said.
There was no fire and no one on the ground was injured.
The Czech-made Let L-410 short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft was acquired by Goma Air on October 11, 2014.
The airport, the gateway to Mt Everest, is considered one of the “world’s most dangerous airports” as it demands courage and precision to fly at tiny, treacherous runway perched on a steep cliff.
This is the second major crash with casualty since 2008 at Lukla Airport, also known as Tenzing-Hillary Airport after the first men to climb Mt Everest.
On October 8, 2008, Yeti Airlines Flight 103 crashed on final approach and caught fire, killing 18 passengers and crew. The aircraft's captain was the only survivor then.
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