KATHMANDU: Nineteen people including foreign tourists and crew members on board the Sita Air's Dornier 9NAHA615 were killed as the small aircraft caught fire while making an emergency landing outside the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu Friday morning. The deceased have been identified as Pilot Bijaya Tandukar, Co-pilot Takesi Thapa and flight attendant Ruja Shakya while the identities of the other sixteen passengers, most of them believed to be Italian nationals, are yet to be ascertained. The ill-fated plane had taken off for Lukla, the famous tourist destination on the lap of Mt Everest, at 6:15 this morning. The fatal accident occurred when the pilots tried to make an emergency landing after a few minutes of their flight, apparently after noticing technical glitches. The plane landed outside the airport near a human settlement on the bank of Manohara River near Jadibuti. According to Ghanashyam Shrestha, a staff of Sita Airlines, the pilots had to make an emergency landing after a bird struck against the plane at Manohara River in Madhyapur Thimi near Jadibuti, then it caught fire.” Eyewitness Ganesh Thapa said, “The aircraft looked unstable while it was taking off. I thought the pilots were trying to land on the bank of the Manohara River. It caught fire as soon as it touched the ground.” All the bodies have been charred in such a way that no one can be identified while the aircraft is burnt out completely. Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepali Army personnel are carrying out the rescue operation and making a preparation to take the bodies to the TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj for postmortem.