Plane with 19 people on board crashes in Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal — A plane carrying tourists to view Mount Everest crashed while attempting to land in dense fog in Nepal on Sunday, police and eyewitnesses said. A witness said 18 bodies were pulled out of the wreckage of the plane, which was carrying 19 people.

The Beechcraft-made plane belonging to Buddha Air was carrying 16 foreign tourists and three crew members and crashed in Bisankunarayan village, just a few miles south of the capital, Katmandu.

Police officials said rescuers had reached the crash site, but would not comment on casualties.

An eyewitness, Haribol Poudel, told Avenues Television that the plane had hit the roof of a house in the village and that 18 bodies were pulled out. He said a man who appeared to have survived was taken to a hospital.

Poudel said it was foggy, and that visibility was very low in the mountainous area.

Rewant Kuwar, an official at the Katmandu Airport rescue office, said the plane had last made contact with the control tower at 7:31 a.m.

The plane had taken the tourists to view Mount Everest and other high peaks and was returning to Katmandu. The “mountain flight” takes tourists over the Everest region, and passengers can view some of the world's highest peaks from the airplane windows.