From: joshee@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Jeetendra R. Joshee)
Subject: Re: Plane crash, about 160 died
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 21:25:34 GMT

In article <92272.153932U15297@uicvm.uic.edu> Shyamala Parameswaran <U15297@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>=========================================================================
>Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 10:52:02 PDT
>
>        KATMANDU, Nepal (UPI) -- A Pakistan International Airlines jetliner
>crashed into a hillside southeast of the Nepalese capital Monday and
>burst into flames, killing 12 crew members and 155 passengers, including
>dozens of Western tourists, said Home Ministry officials and other
>government sources.
>        The crash of PIA Flight PK-268 was the worst to ever occur in Nepal.
>The disaster came just one month after a Thai jetliner crashed while on
>approach to Kathmandu International Airport, which lacks radar systems,
>in what was then the country's most deadly air accident.
>        The control tower lost contact with the PIA French-made Airbus 310
>jetliner at 2:29 p.m. as it approached Katmandu airport. Rescue workers
>found the burning wreckage on a 6,000-foot hillside near Lete village,
>about 10 miles southeast of the capital, a Home Ministry source said.
>The plane had been flying at 8,200 feet shortly before the crash, the
>Home Ministry said.
>        ``There are no survivors. Army and other personnel have reached the
>accident site,'' the source said. ``The aircraft is burning and rescue
>teams are trying to retrieve bodies from the burning crash site,'' the
>source added.
>        A passenger list for Flight PK-268 obtained by United Press
>International showed those aboard the flight included about 30
>Spaniards, 13 Italians, 35 Nepalese, 35 Pakistanis and at least one
>Japanese. A spokesman for the British Foreign Office in London said at
>least five Britons were aboard.
>        Rescue workers had recovered the bodies of at least 12 people by 7:15
>p.m. The Home Ministry said relatives could begin identifying and
>claiming the bodies of those killed in the crash at 11 a.m. at the
>Katmandu International Airport.
>        A spokesman for PIA said Flight PK-268 was traveling from Karachi,
>Pakistan, to Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a scheduled stop in Katmandu at
>2:45 p.m. A PIA spokesman said 83 passengers originated their trip in
>Karachi, while the remainder transferred to the plane from other
>arriving flights.
>        Three villagers from the area reported locating the crashed airliner
>at 3:40 p.m. Officials said the wreckage was found on the southeastern
>edge of the Katmandu Aalley and that helicopters from the Royal Nepalese
>Army were at the scene of the crash.
>        One official said villagers near the scene heard a loud bang before
>seeing the aircraft crash. The crash site is about 30 minutes' hike from
>the nearest road near the village of Lete, which is connected to the
>Nepalese capital by road.
>        A Katmandu airport official said weather conditions were clear at the
>time of the plane's disappearance, and that it was under normal
>operations. PIA has set up an emergency center at Karachi airport to
>provide information for distressed relatives and friends, the official
>said.
>        A PIA official said a relief flight would be sent to Katmandu Tuesday
>morning. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed PIA to ``make all
>efforts to retrieve the bodies and help the relatives and friends of the
>victims.''
>        The PIA official said there is no radar at Katmandu airport, and that
>air traffic controllers were using radio to guide the plane in.
>        The crash came two months after 113 people died when a Thai
>International airbus slammed into a cliff 20 miles northwest of the
>capital on July 31. That accident, also involving a French-made Airbus,
>was Nepal's worst air disaster until Monday's crash.
>        A team studying the Thai International crash said preliminary
>findings indicate a fault in the flaps may have caused the crash.