Two pilots killed as plane crash lands in Nepal

Kathmandu: Two pilots were killed when a small passenger plane crash landed in Nepal on Friday but all nine passengers survived, an airport official said. It is not clear what caused the accident, which came two days after a Twin Otter turboprop plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal killing all 23 people on board. "A helicopter has landed at the site for rescue. The two pilots are dead, the nine passengers are injured," said Bhola Prasad Guragain, a spokesman for the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu. "The helicopter will airlift the injured for treatment." Guragain said the plane had landed "in a flat area" but appeared to have sustained a major impact at the front, where the pilots were sitting. "We are trying to get more details," he added. The Kasthamandap Air plane was carrying nine passengers and two pilots when it took off from an airport in the town of Nepalgunj, 300 kilometres (187 miles) west of Kathmandu. It was headed for Jumla, a remote area in the mountainous far west of the country where road access is poor. Air travel is popular in Nepal, which has only a limited road network. Many communities, particularly in the mountains and hills, are accessible only on foot or by air. The country, which is still reeling from a devastating earthquake last April, has suffered a number of air disasters in recent years, dealing a blow to its tourist industry. Most have been attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and inadequate maintenance. The European Union blacklisted all Nepal`s airlines in 2013.

Kathmandu: A small plane with 11 people on board on Friday crash-landed in a remote area in western Nepal, the second aviation accident in the country within three days.

The plane belonging to Air Kasthamandap crash-landed at Chilkhaya in Kalikot district.

There were 11 people on board the plane.

Two crew members-- Captain Dinesh Neupane and co-pilot Santosh Rana -- have been feared dead, according to Banke's Nepal Police SP Tek Bahadur Rai.

The accident site is at least four hours' trek from the nearest town. Police and army rescuers are on their way to the site.

On Wednesday, 23 people were killed in a plane crash in central Nepal.

Since 1949 - the year the first aircraft landed in Nepal - there have been more than 70 crashes involving planes and helicopters, in which more than 700 people have died.

In 2012, child actor Taruni Sachdev and mother Geeta Sachdev were among 15 people killed when a dornier aircraft crashed close to the Jomson airport. Taruni died in the Agni Air Flight CHT plane crash on her 14th birthday on May 14.

In 2013, the European Union banned all Nepalese airlines from flying there. And in 2014, a Nepal Airlines plane crashed into the side of a snow-clad mountain in the country's west, killing 18 people.