Nepal plane crash: Wreckage found, no survivors

, Feb 17: Nepalese police on Monday confirmed that there were no survivors in the recent airplane crash. The wreckage of the

Airlines

carrying 18 people in the country's west side was found on Monday, an aviation official told AFP.

The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after taking off from the tourist town of Pokhara on Sunday afternoon, airline officials and police said. It was travelling to the town of Jumla, 353 kilometres (220 miles) west of Kathmandu.

"The plane crashed into a hill, police have found its wreckage in a village, but no survivors," Bimlesh Lal Karna, chief air traffic controller at the country's largest airport in Kathmandu, told AFP.

The plane had 15 passengers including an infant and three crew members

The plane had 15 passengers including an infant and three crew. One of the passengers was from Denmark, according to airline spokesman Ram Hari Sharma. The rest of those on board - including Manab Sejuwal, a local politician from the ruling Nepali Congress party - are from Nepal.

Two helicopters, assigned to search for the plane, were forced to turn back because of bad weather. Police finally spotted the pieces of the wreckage while conducting an aerial search of Arghakhanchi district, 226 kilometres west of the capital, aviation official Karna said.

This is the latest in the list of crashes Nepal's airline sector has encountered in recent times. The European Union in December banned all the country's airlines from flying to the EU. The crashes have usually been attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and inadequate maintenance.

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