KATMANDU: A plane flying 19 people toward Mount Everest went down in flames on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital yesterday, killing everyone on board including seven Britons and five Chinese, police said.
The twin-propeller Sita Air plane had just taken off from Katmandu and was headed to the town of Lukla, gateway to the world’s highest mountain, when it plunged into the banks of a river near the city’s airport around daybreak.
Witnesses described hearing the screams of passengers and seeing flames coming from one of the plane’s wings moments before it hit the ground, while airport authorities said the pilot had reported hitting a bird shortly after take off.
“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,” Tulasha Pokharel, a 26-year-old housewife who said she one of the first on the scene, said.
Emergency workers lined up the corpses — which included seven Nepalese along with the Britons and Chinese — near the smoldering wreckage as they picked through passengers’ belongings to identify the dead.
A crowd of thousands quickly gathered around the riverbank less than a kilometer (half a mile) from the airport, with many shocked bystanders clutching prayer beads and wailing in anguish as they surveyed the devastation.
“The pilots seem to have tried to land it safely on the banks of the river but unfortunately the plane caught fire,” police spokesman Binod Singh told AFP, adding that the accident occurred at around 6:30 a.m. (0045 GMT).
Although the exact cause of the crash was still unclear, the manager of Tribhuvan International Airport in Katmandu said the pilot had reported hitting a bird moments before the crash.
“Immediately after the take-off, the air traffic controllers noticed the aircraft making unusual maneuvers,” Ratish Chandra Lal Suman told reporters.
“When the traffic controller asked the pilot about it, he said the plane had struck a bird,” he added.
The crash was the sixth fatal air accident in Nepal in the last two years and it raises fresh questions about safety in the impoverished Himalayan country, home to challenging weather, treacherous landing strips and often lax safety standards.
Ninety-five lives have been lost in air accidents in the last two years, according to an AFP tally, with 15 people killed in the latest crash in May when an Agni Air plane carrying Indian pilgrims went down near northern Jomsom airport.
Six people made a miraculous escape from that accident, including a 30-year-old Danish traveler who survived with nothing more than a bruised leg.
“The record on aircraft flying hours is lax,” said Toya Dahal, an air safety specialist with the Initiative for Aviation Safety in Nepal, a lobby group promoting air safety.
“Also, the airlines don’t conduct routine maintenance,” he added, explaining that they also take risks by flying planes during poor weather conditions.
He cast doubt on the idea that a bird strike had brought down the plane. “A plane with two engines would have landed safely even after it was struck by a bird. If one engine is damaged, another engine can support the aircraft,” he said
“It looks like the pilot, after noticing technical problems, took the best possible decision to force-land the plane.”
The British group, the youngest of whom was 27 and the eldest 60, were traveling to the Khumbu area, their agency Sherpa Adventures told AFP, and they were due to go on a 16-day trek to three high passes and the Everest Base Camp.
Two of the group were brothers Vincent and Darren Kelly while another was their Nepalese tour group leader, the agency told AFP.
A British foreign office spokesman confirmed there had been seven British casualties.
The crash is the second disaster to hit mountaineers in Nepal this week at the start of the autumn climbing season, which is the peak time for visiting Nepal, which has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
On Sunday, at least eight people were killed in an avalanche on Mount Mansalu in northwest Nepal. The search for three other missing climbers was abandoned on Thursday.
19 dead as plane crashes in Nepal
19 dead as plane crashes in Nepal
UN Security Council likely to vote Wednesday on Gaza action
- The draft text demands the release of all hostages held by Hamas and others, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza
NEW YORK: The ten elected members of the UN Security Council have asked for the 15-member body to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that demands “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties,” said diplomats.
The draft text, seen by Reuters, also demands the release of all hostages held by Hamas and others, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN throughout the enclave.
A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France — to pass.
Musk calls Trump’s big beautiful bill ‘a disgusting abomination’
- Musk left his formal role in the administration last week as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk on Tuesday amplified his criticism of the sweeping tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump has been pushing fellow Republicans in Congress to embrace, calling it a “disgusting abomination” that will increase the deficit.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” the billionaire Musk wrote in an X post. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The broadside comes as Trump pressures Republicans in the Senate to approve the legislation he dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” which has been passed in the House of Representatives.
Trump appointed Musk, the world’s richest person, to lead a government cost-cutting and efficiency drive, during which he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the massive savings he had sought.
Musk left his formal role in the administration last week as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end.
Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct
- The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process
President Donald Trump’s administration moved on Tuesday to make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct, the latest step in a broader effort to overhaul the civil service and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
The US Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule that would allow the office, which acts as the federal government’s human resources department, to direct other agencies to fire employees for conduct such as tax evasion, leaking sensitive information and refusing to testify in other workers’ disciplinary cases.
The rule would extend OPM’s existing power to designate job applicants as unsuitable for federal employment, to current federal employees, a change it said was necessary to hold government workers accountable to the public.
Federal workers have for decades been covered by an array of job protections, including the ability to contest firings by engaging in a lengthy administrative process.
The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process. If OPM determines that removal of an employee is required, an agency would have five days to terminate them.
“Illogically, the government has far greater ability to bar someone from federal employment who has committed a serious crime or misconduct in the past than it does to remove someone who engages in the exact same behavior as a federal employee,” OPM said in the proposal.
The publication of the proposal kicked off a 30-day public comment period.
Since Trump’s second term began in January, the administration has moved aggressively to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including directing mass firings and layoffs and implementing changes to the civil service. Many of those policies have been met with court challenges and some have been temporarily blocked by judges.
OPM, which is closely linked to the White House, has played a key role in those efforts by attempting to give Trump more direct control of the federal workforce.
Many unions, Democrats and advocacy groups have said Trump’s various policies violate complex federal civil service and labor laws meant to regulate government employment and ensure that federal workers are insulated from political influence.
OPM on Tuesday said the policies agencies have followed for decades rely on overly cumbersome and restrictive procedures that protect misconduct.
“This arbitrary state of affairs seriously impairs the efficiency, effectiveness, and public perception of the Federal service,” the agency said.
Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary
MADRID: Spain has canceled a deal for anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company, in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
The decision will affect the license for 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of 285 million euros ($325 million). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a Madrid-based subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, according to local press.
“The goal is clear ... a total disconnection from Israeli technology,” government spokesperson Pilar Alegria said, adding the government is studying “the effects of the cancelation.”
Israel’s Defense Ministry referred questions on the decision to Rafael, which said it wasn’t aware of the cancelation. Pap Tecnos, located on the outskirts of Madrid, did not comment.
Spain approved the deal on Oct. 3, 2023, four days before an insurgent assault led by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked a devastating war in Gaza.
Authorities argued at the time that the systems used by the Spanish forces were obsolete and should be replaced with up-to-date versions like those used by allied armies.
Spain’s leftist government says it stopped exporting arms to Israel as of Oct. 2, 2023, but there were reports that some shipments slipped through.
The US late last year opened an investigation into whether NATO ally Spain denied port entry to at least three cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.
Spain formally recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland.
A month later, Spain became the first European country to ask the top UN court, the International Court of Justice, permission to join a case mounted by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Macron to visit Meloni after rivalry creates tension on Ukraine, trade
- Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump
- Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president
PARIS/ROME: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday, seeking to improve relations amid tensions between the two European leaders over Ukraine, trade and relations with the United States.
Macron is a fervent pro-European who has had a long rapport with Donald Trump, while Meloni is a nationalist with a strong transatlantic tilt who seems more ideologically aligned with the US president. They have advocated different — even competing — approaches to the new Trump era.
Meloni, whose country has a large trade surplus with the US, has sought to keep Europe aligned with the US, using the slogan “Make the West great again” in a meeting with Trump in Washington in April. Macron has pushed for the EU to take a more independent approach.
On the Russian war in Ukraine, Meloni has been skeptical about Macron’s “coalition of the willing” and a Franco-British plan put forward earlier this year to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement. Sending troops would be deeply unpopular in Italy.
Hostility flared publicly in recent weeks, with officials close to Macron and Meloni privately or openly criticizing their respective initiatives over Ukraine or trade.
Meloni was criticized in Italy for not traveling to Kyiv with Macron and the German, British and Polish leaders on May 10 and then for missing a call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Albania a few days later.
After Meloni explained her absence by saying the meetings were about sending troops to Ukraine, her government was furious that Macron said publicly that the meetings were about a ceasefire and seemed to equate her justification with “Russian disinformation.”
French and Italian officials said Macron had taken the initiative to hold Tuesday’s meeting and sought to play down talk of a rift, saying the meeting and a working dinner would be an opportunity for Macron to show “respect” and “friendship.”
“The president is available to all of our European partners, whatever the political persuasion may be,” an Elysee official told reporters.
The Elysee said the two would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, the Mercosur trade deal and US tariffs, as well as industrial cooperation between the two countries, including Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, which appointed a new Italian chief executive last month.
Italian officials said the meeting was meant to “lay the foundations for a further strengthening of relations” and added that talks would also address the situation in the Middle East and Libya.
Both Italy and France are worried Russia might boost its presence in eastern Libya, to keep a foothold in the Mediterranean after Moscow’s ally President Bashar Assad was ousted in Syria in December.
“This Macron-Meloni meeting isn’t about rekindling Franco-Italian friendship. It’s about necessity, not nostalgia,” said Francesco Galietti of Rome-based consultancy Policy Sonar, saying the two capitals should find common ground on Libya “fast.”
