Probe team visits Lukla plane crash site

The five-member commission formed by the government to probe the Oct 8 Lukla air tragedy in which 18 people, mostly foreign nationals, were killed visited Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla Saturday.

Reports said the probe team spent three hours at the site.

Nagendra Ghimire, joint secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and member-secretary of the five-member commission, said the site visit is part of accident investigation according to International Civil Aviation Organisation norms.

The government has asked the commission to submit its report on the incident within two months.

Twelve German nationals, two Australians and two Nepali passengers died in the accident along with co-pilot Bikash Panta and air hostess Sunita Shrestha.

Only the pilot, Surendra Kunwar, survived.

The bodies of Nepalis who died in the tragedy have already been submitted to their family members.

Meanwhile, a German forensic team arrived in Nepal on Thursday to identify the dead German tourists as per international provisions.

The bodies of the foreign nationals who died in the plane crash are being kept at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. nepalnews.com Oct 12 08

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