[1]Thirteen Indian pilgrims were among 15 persons killed on Monday when a small plane with 21 people on board crashed in northern Nepal after hitting a hill top while attempting to land at a high-altitude airport.
Child actor Taruni Sachdev who has acted in many commercials including the famous Rasna advertisement and her mother Geetha Sachdev are also among the dead.
Taruni has also acted in many films. In Malayalam, she has appeared in films Vellinakshatram and Sathyam.
Six others, including three Indians and two Danish nationals, miraculously survived the crash of the Dornier 9N AIG aircraft belonging to the private carrier Agni Air. The accident came nearly eight months after 10 Indians perished in an air disaster near here.
The plane, which flew from the resort town of Pokhara on its way to Jomsom, crashed at 9.30am local time while landing at the mountain airstrip, said an official at Tribhuvan International Airport.
The passengers had chartered the flight to take them from the central tourist hub of Pokhara to Muktinath, a famous Hindu pilgrimage centre in Jomsom near the Tibetan border at the foot of the Thorong La Himalayan mountain pass, the official said.
An official said rescuers had so far recovered nine bodies from the wreckage. Three Indians including two children, a Nepalese air hostess and two Danes have been rescued alive from the crash site.
The injured were taken to a hospital in Pokhara and the three Indians who survived were out of danger, officials said.
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