Airport officials: Nepal plane crash kills 18

A small aircraft taking tourists on a sightseeing tour of the Himalayas, has crashed in Nepal, killing at least 18 people, according to airport officials and police. The Buddha Air plane carrying three Nepali crew, and 10 Indian passengers, one local and five other foreign tourists crashed into a hillside in heavy rain and fog at Godavari on Sunday, 10 kilometres (six miles) from Kathmandu, police spokesman Binod Singh told AFP. "Eighteen people have died and one has been rescued alive. The Buddha Air-103 was returning from a mountain flight when it crashed with Kotdada Hill, six nautical miles south of Kathmandu," said Bimesh Lal Karna, head of the rescue department at Tribhuwan International Airport. Singh said airport authorities on the ground lost contact with the plane at 7:30am. Local television stations reported that witnesses saw flames coming from the aircraft just before it crashed.