A Nepal Airlines plane crashed in the north-west of the country during bad weather on Sunday, prompting fears that all 18 occupants were killed, but rescuers could not reach the presumed impact site in a forest. The Twin Otter craft was on a domestic flight in poor visibility. The Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said one of the people on board was from Denmark. The rest were Nepalese, dpa reported. The search was mounted in Arghakhanchi district after villagers there reported they had seen a fire in the nearby forest. "The army's rescue helicopters haven't been able to land due to bad weather at the suspected crash site," Nepal Army spokesman Jagdish Pokharel said, but security personnel were headed to the site on foot. The occupants comprised 14 adult passengers, a minor and three crew. An online newspaper, Setopati, published the occupant list. Contact with the plane was lost 33 minutes after take off. The Civil Aviation Authority said the Twin Otter had left the western lake city of Pokhara and was bound for Jumla in the north. Nepal had been hit by heavy snow and rain over a period of three days.
