British tourist dies as plane crashes in Everest region

The private Agni Air plane went down near Shikharpur village, about 50 miles south of Katmandu. The German-built Dornier was carrying 11 passengers and three crew members when bad weather forced it to try to return to Katmandu.

Tri Ratna Manandhar of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed there were no survivors.

Rescuers were not immediately able to reach the crash site. The area has no roads and is accessible only by foot, but the route from the nearest town was blocked by a river flooded by monsoon rainfall.

A villager who witnessed the accident, told reporters that the crash impact broke the plane into several pieces that were scattered on a hillside.

Agni Air said Briton Jeremy Taylor, 30, died along with Americans Irina Shekhets, 30, Levzi Cordoso, 49, Heather Finch, 40, Kendra Fallon, 18, and Japanese passenger Yuki Hayashe, 19.

The rescue co-ordination office at Katmandu's Tribhuwan International Airport said soldiers reached the crash site on foot and were collecting the bodies but rescue helicopters were unable to reach the area in the bad weather conditions.

Lukla is the only air strip in the Everest region. Thousands of trekkers and mountaineers fly there every year to begin their journey to Everest.

42 KILLED IN CHINESE JET TRAGEDY

Forty two people were killed yesterday when an airliner with 91 people on board crashed in north-east China.

The Henan Airlines plane came down near the Lindu airport in Yichun city in Heilongjiang province at about 10.10pm local time (1510 BST).

The airliner had taken off from Heilongjiang's capital, Harbin, shortly before 9pm.

Chinese state television said nearly 50 people had been rescued from the wreckage of the jet.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the plane overshot the runway and burst into flames. More than 20 people were taken to hospital.