Nepal Plane Crash Injures 21 Including 9 Japanese Tourists; Incident Takes Place At The Same Place Of Crash Last May

Photo from Nepali 'Republica' Newspaper

Nepali media have reported that a small plane carrying 21 people crashed while trying to land at a mountain airstrip some 200 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu early Thursday.

All on board were injured, some of them seriously. 

The Nepali newspaper, Republica reports that 5 people were critically injured on the incident that took place in Mustang district. The NA-9NABO Twin Otter aircraft flew from Pokhara to Jomson skidded off the Jomson Airport runway while landing and fell into the nearby river.

Nine passengers are Japanese tourists while the rest of the members inside including three crew members were all Nepali.

The Associated Press reports that the plane belonged to state-owned Napal Airlines and was trying to land at Jomson airport when the crash took place on the banks of Kaligandalki River.

Those seriously injured are airlifted to Pokhara while others were rushed to local hospital, police have told the news agency.

Last May, 15 people were killed when a plane crashed while trying to land exactly at the same location.

The incident happened at around 8 a.m. local time.

Written By: Gopi Chandra Kharel