No survivors found in Nepal crash wreckage

KATHMANDU (AP) - Nepalese troops yesterday reached the wreckage of a Thai Airways Airbus 310-300 strewn across a Himalayan mountainside, but found no survivors. The airliner, carrying 99 passengers and 14 crew, crashed on Friday on a flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Two Britons were among the passengers, along with Americans, Spaniards, Belgians and at least 12 other nationalities.

The largest piece of wreckage found was less than 15ft long, said an official at the rescue operation centre at Kathmandu airport. He said the troops, who reached the wreckage after a 10-hour trek, found only two charred bodies and were still searching.

Nepalese and airline officials speculated that the crash, 22 miles north-west of Kathmandu airport, was caused by a technical problem which the pilot reported moments before he lost contact with the control tower. No details were available.

The death toll in the crash of a Chinese airliner at Nanjing airport on Friday has risen to 109. An infant was reported among the 17 survivors. No explanation has yet been given on what caused the aircraft, a Soviet-made Yakovlev-42, to crash on take-off.