Hundreds of tourists stranded for no alternative to air route

            Solukhumbu, Sept 16: Hundreds of foreign tourists have stranded at Lukla in Solukhumbu district owing to unfavourable weather condition for the past three days.

            Imanath Adhikari, Chief, Civil Aviation Authority Lukla, informed that as many as 300 tourists, who were returning to Kathmandu from the tourism area, have been stuck at Lukla.

            Lukla has witnessed worsening weather condition since last Friday. Though there were 20 scheduled flights on Friday not a single flight could take off, according to the Airport Office.

            Only five among 25 flights took off on Saturday while not a single flight took place on Sunday, Adhikari informed.

            There were 30 flight schedules, including 15 of Tara Air, 10 of Sita Air and five of Summit Air on Sunday. The problem became more intense when helicopters could not even take off due to thick fog.

            With this the tourists having fixed schedule are facing tough time. Tourists coming to the Sagarmatha Zone mostly use air services. In lack of access to road to Khumbu region, the tourists do not have any alternative to air service.

            It normally takes two days for tourists to reach to the road route in the rainy season.

            Sagarmatha is one of the prime destinations of tourists coming to Nepal. So, there has been huge flow of tourists to fly to Tenjing Hilary Airport from Tribhuvan International Airport.