KATHMANDU, Nepal - The passengers on board a doomed flight that crashed on its way to Mount Everest could be heard screaming inside the cabin but rescuers were unable to get them out as flames engulfed the aircraft.
Witnesses to Friday's crash in Kathmandu which killed 19 people, including 12 foreigners, recounted how they rushed to the scene as the Sita Air plane came down in flames in the Nepalese capital.
- "We could hear people inside the aircraft screaming, but we couldn't throw water at the plane to put out the fire because we were scared that the engines were about to explode," said Tulasha Pokharel, one of the first on the scene.
- Pokharel, a 26-year-old housewife living near the Manohara River, told AFP she was picking vegetables around daybreak when she looked up and saw an aircraft which looked like it was flying too slowly.
- "There was a fire near one of its wings and the aircraft's body was shaking. The plane moved towards the river for landing and it had almost landed at the river but it slipped off course and moved towards the land.
- "At first, I was optimistic that the pilot could manage to land the aircraft on the water and hopeful that some of the passengers would survive."
- But as she realised that the plane was about to crash, she began to fear that she herself could become a victim.
"I was very scared and nervous. I thought that the plane would come towards us and hit us."
Pokharel said she and her husband were so close they could hear people inside the aircraft screaming moments before impact.
"The pilot tried his best to make an emergency landing. If he had managed it, then we could have rescued some of the passengers," she added.
"The pilot tried his best to make an emergency landing. If he had managed it, then we could have rescued some of the passengers," she added.
Source: Gulfnews...More...
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