Torment over Everest death crash

 
Getty Images
7 June 2013

The girlfriend of a London lawyer killed in a plane crash in Nepal said today he would never have visited the country if they had known about its “terrible” air safety record.

Ben Ogden, 27, was one of seven Britons killed in the accident in September which was the sixth fatal plane crash in two years in Nepal.

His girlfriend, Stephanie Illingworth, a 27-year-old civil servant, said she was “still in denial” over his death.

The couple, who lived in Finsbury Park, met at fresher’s week at Oxford in 2004 and travelled the world together after university.

Mr Ogden had booked a three-week trekking holiday in Nepal before starting his new job as an associate in employment law at international firm Allen & Overy.

He was killed in a twin-engine aircraft carrying trekkers to Everest which was operated by domestic carrier Sita Air. It came down minutes after take-off on the south-west edge of capital Kathmandu. All 19 people on board died.

The tragedy came on the anniversary of the 1992 Kathmandu plane crash which killed all 167 people on board, including 36 Britons.

Ms Illingworth’s final contact with Mr Ogden was a text he sent the night before he died, saying he loved her and wished they could be together. She said: “It’s unimaginably difficult for me. I think I’m still in denial over what’s happened, it’s been so traumatic.

“I spoke to him at lunchtime the day before it happened and he sent me a text before he went to bed. He was just going on holiday and even now it feels in my heart like he’s just away and has not come home.”

Ms Illingworth told how her pleas for information from Sita Air have been met with silence. She has instructed aviation lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, who are working with the other victims’ families to secure an overhaul of flight safety in Nepal. Ms Illingworth said: “When I read reports glamorising Everest, they never mention to risks of flying there or the systematic failure of the aviation in Nepal. Tourists undertake this trip because of the allure of Everest but may well be unaware of the risks involved in the flight transfer there.

“We have been told absolutely no information about what caused the fatal accident which killed our beloved Ben and yet these planes are still flying every day and continue to crash.

“If Ben and I had known about the air safety record in Nepal then he would not have gone on his holiday and he would still be with me now.”

The latest plane crash in Nepal was five days ago, when a Sita Air-operated Dornier 228 touched down short of the runway, causing the nose and landing gear to collapsed. Seven people on board escaped serious injury.

Former RAF pilot Jim Morris, a partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We and the families that we represent call on authorities in Nepal to recognise the concerns over aviation safety and ensure that a full review is carried out to prevent a repeat of the recent crashes.”

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