Two young Indian girls were lucky to survive the Nepal airliner crash today near high-altitude Jomsom airport in northern Nepal.
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The girls aged 6 and 9 were among three Indian survivors of the crash in which the Dronier aircraft got buried after hitting a mountain peak straddling the airport.u00a0
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"The girls are conscious and out of danger," Indian Embassy spokesperson Apoorva Srivastav told news channels.u00a0
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The third survivor, she said, was a 45-year-old man. It was not clear whether the parents of the young girls survived.u00a0
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The girls and the man were part of a group of Indian pilgrims apparently from the South who were overtaken by ill fate on their way to a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Muktinath.u00a0
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"We are in touch with few of the relatives of the families," she said, adding that the control room number has been circulated and people have been contacting us.u00a0
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Sixteen people, most of them Indians, died in the crash. Srivastav assured that rescue operations were in full swing as Nepal army personnel have rushed to the crash site.u00a0
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"Nepal army personnel have left for the accident site to bring the remains of the deceased to Kathmandu. They are expected to reach Kathmandu by 4 pm," she said.u00a0
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The aircraft which hit the top of a hill while landing at the Jomsom airport broke into pieces reportedly but did not catch fire.u00a0
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The plane is now buried in the side of the hill. Rescue operations are underway as bodies are being airlifted from the site.u00a0
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"All fifteen bodies have been recovered from the site and they are being airlifted to Kathmandu," a journalist said.
