CHENNAI: Despite being warned by local travel agents against flying from Kathmandu to catch a glimpse of Nepal’s hills, tourists from the state continue to indulge in the aerial thrill. After four tourists from Tamil Nadu were killed on Monday when a private plane crashed into a hilltop while attempting a landing at the high-altitude Jomsom airport in Nepal, this warning is one that travellers would do well to heed. “After last year’s air crash in the Himalayan Kingdom that claimed the lives of eight leading builders from Tiruchy, we have advised people not to fly beyond Kathmandu, as it is extremely dangerous,” M S Paramasivam, chairman of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), South Tamil Nadu Chapter, told City Express over the phone. “But a section of tourists still do it after reaching Kathmandu,” he said. The builders from Tiruchy were killed when their small plane crashed in the Kotdanda hills near the Nepalese capital as they returned from a sight-seeing trip around Mount Everest last September. Alleging that touts and brokers in Nepal were kindling the interest in eager tourists, Paramasivam said there were always some who gave in to the temptation. Another travel agent in Chennai, who wishes to remain anonymous, underscored that it was not worth risking your life just to have a glimpse of these high-altitude mountain ranges. Most small aircraft used for such journeys are outdated, he said. “When I toured Nepal in January this year, I refused to take the thrill trip.”
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