A SMALL aircraft with 18 people on board, most of them foreigners, crashed in bad weather in west Nepal yesterday, authorities said. The fate of the 15 passengers and three crew members, was not immediately known.

　The Twin Otter aircraft owned by Shangrila Air, a private airline, was flying to the tourist town of Pokhara from Jomsom, a tourist resort.

　“The plane was carrying up to 15 people, mostly foreigners, and three crew,” an airport official told Reuters. Earlier, Tourism Minister Bal Bahadur K.C. said the crash site had been located and rescue teams had rushed there.

　There are more than a dozen private airlines in mountainous Nepal which has a poor road network. The airlines launched operations after the country opened up its aviation sector to the private sector about a decade ago. (SD-Agencies)