Seven Britons, five Chinese dead in Nepal air crash

Nepalese police walk through the crash site of a Sita Air airplane near Katmandu, Nepal, early Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. The plane carrying trekkers into the Everest region crashed just after takeoff Friday morning in Nepal’s capital, killing all 19 people on board, authorities said. AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha

KATHMANDU– Seven Britons and five Chinese are among the dead in a plane crash Friday on the outskirts of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu which killed all 19 on board, according to a revised police toll.

“The plane crash in the capital has caused the death of 12 foreigners, including seven British and five Chinese tourists. The remaining seven, including three crew members, are Nepalese, said Nepal Police spokesman Binod Singh.

Police had initially said five Japanese, two Italians and a Briton were killed in the crash but later corrected the information, which had been given in error by an officer at the crash site.

Tulasha Pokharel, a 26-year-old housewife living near the Manohara River, told AFP she was among the first on the scene after the crash.

“We could hear people inside the aircraft screaming, but we couldn’t throw water at the plane to put out the fire because we were scared that the engines were about to explode.”