Priest, city woman die in Nepal plane crash

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A 35-year-old housewife Latha, from Chennai and L.S. Sudarsanam, a temple priest from Kumbakonam were among the 13 Indians killed, in the plane crash at Pokhara in Kathmandu in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal on Monday.

Latha’s husband Srikanth, employed in Infosys as a software engineer, suffered serious head injuries and two daughters Srivardhini, 9, and Sripradha, 6, escaped with minor injuries.

Latha’s sister’s husband Srinivasan, residing at Saligrammam confirmed the death based on information received from the Indian mission in Katmandu.

Srinivasan confirmed that while two daughters of the couple had a miraculous escape with minor injuries Latha was killed in the plane crash, while Srikanth suffered serious head injuries and was admitted to a hospital.

Srinivasan said Srivardhini suffered a fracture on her leg, Sripradha had an injury on her forehead and were being treated in a hospital.

“The Embassy officials called us at around noon and confirmed that Latha was killed in the crash,” Srinivasan said.

He said Srikanth and his family, who left Chennai for the pilgrimage on Thursday last, were proceeding to the famous Mukthinath Temple when the tragedy occurred.

They had booked their tour through a private tour operator. The family is exploring all avenues for bringing the body of Latha to the city.

In all, 15 people, including 13 Indians, were killed in the crash. The ill-fated flight was the small Dornier 9N AIG aircraft, belonging to the private carrier Agni Air.

Six others, including three Indians and two Danish nationals, miraculously survived the crash. The aircraft took off from the tourist hub of Pokhara to the Mukthinath temple at Jomsom near the Tibetan border when it crashed. This is the second such crash in eight months after ten Indians were killed near Kathmandu.

CM directs official to help victim’s kin

Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has directed a senior official in Tamil Nadu House in Delhi to coordinate with the Indian Embassy in Nepal to bring the bodies of Latha Sreekanth and L.S. Sudharsanam from the state and killed in the aircrash on Monday.

Expressing shock and grief over the death of 15 people who were on a pilgrimage and lost their lives in the aircrash, the CM, in a statement on Monday, said she has directed the resident commissioner of Tamil Nadu House to get in touch with Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and take steps to bring the bodies.

he CM said she has also directed the official to arrange for best medical facilities to Srikanth, husband of Latha and their two daughters Sreevardhini and Sreepada, who were among the injured and lend them all support, the release said.