Sept. 28 Photo Brief: Deadly Nepali plane crash, Bond under the hammer, Colombian pole dancers and no wife for Jesus
The Vatican claims the ancient papyrus mentioning Jesus’ wife is a fake, a bird causes a deadly plan crash in Nepal killing all 19 passengers, ladies compete in the annual Colombian pole dancing contest, London consumers and tattoo enthusiasts flock to the “50 Years of James Bond – the Auction” and the International London Tattoo convention and more in today’s daily brief.
- Mexican soldiers burn marijuana plants found amid a field of blue agave – the plant used for the production of tequila – in El Llano, Hostotipaquillo, Jalisco State, Mexico on September 27, 2012. Members of the Mexican military conducted an operation in the area where so far they have destroyed 40 hectares of marijuana plantations and burned more than 50 tons of plants. (Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)
- Shoes, carnations and signs that read “No to individual armament” are seen laid on a red carpet by relatives of gunfire victims and other participants during an anti-gun rally on Individual Disarmament Day in central Istanbul. A group of people who lost relatives by gunfire gathered in central Istanbul to commemorate their loss and to support the individual disarmament campaign organised by the Umut Foundation. (Murad Sezer/Reuters)
- An employee sprays water on long-tailed Gentoo Penguins during their first walk in open air at the Royev Ruchey zoo in a suburb of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Six Gentoo Penguins were transferred from Bulgaria to the Krasnoyarsk zoo this year, making it the only zoo in Russia to house Gentoo Penguins. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)
- An ancient papyrus written in ancient Egyptian Coptic is pictured in this undated handout image. The fragment which a Harvard scholar says contains the first recorded mention that Jesus may have had a wife is a fake, the Vatican said on Friday. (Karen L. King/Harvard University/Handout/Reuters)
- People gather near a burning Dornier aircraft after it crashed in Kathmandu. A small plane owned by private firm Sita Air crashed shortly after takeoff from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers, an airline official said. (Stringer/Reuters)
- Rescue team member display bundles of money recovered from the crash site of a Dornier aircraft in Kathmandu. A small plane owned by private firm Sita Air crashed shortly after takeoff from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers, an airline official said. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)
- A woman looks at the traditional ginger bread on sale at the famous Oktoberfest in Munich. Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital for the 179th Oktoberfest, which runs until October 7, 2012. (Michaela Rehle/Reuters)
- Sara Garsia competes in the annual Colombian pole dancing contest in Medellin September 27, 2012. (Albeiro Lopera/Reuters)
- Natalia Gomez competes in the annual Colombian pole dancing contest in Medellin September 27, 2012. (Albeiro Lopera/Reuters)
- Workers stand on one of the spheres of Brussels’ Atomium during a site cleaning. The 102-metre (335 feet) tall structure and its nine spheres symbolise a crystal molecule of metal with its atoms being magnified about 165 billion times. The cleaning of the Atomium, which was designed for the 1958 International Exhibition of Brussels and which received a multimillion-dollar facelift in 2006, will run for a full month. A team of five specialised workers take about three days to clean a ball, each of which has a surface area of 1000 square metres (10,764 square feet). (www.atomium.be/SABAM 2012/Yves Herman/Reuters)
- “Oldies” poses for a photograph to display his tattoos by artist Josh Lin during the 8th International London Tattoo convention at Tobacco Dock east London. World famous tattoo artists gathered in London for the annual event. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/GettyI mages)
- “Oldies” poses for a photograph to display his tattoos by artist Josh Lin during the 8th International London Tattoo convention at Tobacco Dock east London. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/GettyI mages)
- Indian Hindu devotees swim with an idol of Lord Ganesha in an artificial pond, dug for the ongoing Ganesh Chathurthi festival to help control pollution and waste, along the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad. Hindu devotees bring home idols of Lord Ganesha during the ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ in order to invoke his blessings for wisdom and prosperity, during the eleven day long festival which culminates with the immersion of the idols. (Sam PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Indian Forestry Department official, riding an elephant, pulls away the carcass of a rhino killed by poachers at Bagori range in Kaziranga National Park, some 250 kms east of Guwahati. A rare rhino, whose horn was hacked off by poachers, died after struggling for its life for over a day. The gravely injured rhino was found in the deluged Kaziranga National Park on September 27, bleeding from gunshot injuries and a huge wound on its snout after poachers cut off its horn, nose and part of its ear. (Biju Boro/STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)
- Posters from the 1965 film ‘Thunderball’ are seen alongside James Bond memorabilia at Christie’s auction house during the press preview of “50 years of James Bond – The Auction” in London. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of James Bond on film, Christie’s are holding an auction of Bond memorabilia from the archives of EON Productions. Forty lots are to be offered at an online-only auction from 28 Spetember to 8 October 2012. A further 10 lots are offered by invitation-only at the auction house 5 October 2012. All the proceeds are to benefit 12 charitable foundations. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)
- A employee poses next to a pair of swimming trunks, worn by Daniel Craig in the film “Casino Royal”, during a media preview of “50 Years of James Bond – the Auction”, at Christie’s in London. The piece is estimated to sell for 2,840 – 4,630 GBP ($4,600-7,500) at auction on October 5. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)
- Tibetan Spiritual Leader The Dalai Lama gestures during a prayer meeting at The Namgyal Monastry in Dharamshala. The prayer meeting was held on the concluding day of the four-day second Special General meeting of Tibetans which was held in Dharamshala to discuss the critical issues of recent self immolations by Tibetans in Tibet, and about taking up the Tibet issue with new Chinese leadership. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
- A man wipes his nose at the Babiy Yar monument in Kiev on September 29, 2012 during a remembrance ceremony marking the 71st anniversary of the beginning of mass execution of Jews by the Nazis in September 1941. Some 34,000 Jews were murdered over two days in September 1941 on Babiy Yar, a plazza in Kiev rendering it a symbol of the Holocaust where Nazis shot more than 100,000 people between 1941 and 1944. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
- Two-year-old Alana Marie sleeps as her mother waits for dental care, on the first day of the fourth annual free health clinic at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in downtown Los Angeles September 27, 2012. The free clinic, organized by nonprofit Care Harbor, aims to provide medical, vision and dental care at no charge for thousands of needy residents over a four day period. Health care is one of the top issues in the upcoming presidential election. Some 49.9 million Americans, or 16.3 percent of the total US population, are uninsured, according to CNN. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
- Bride Mayumi Kagoshi (R) arrives at the Cinderella castle while her groom Takayuki Abiko (C) waits at the balcony for their wedding at the Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
- Newly wedded bride Mayumi Kagoshi (3rd R) and her groom Takayuki Abiko (3rd L) wave from the balcony of the Cinderella castle after their wedding at the castle of the Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, suburban Tokyo. Abiko and Kagoshi became the first couple to hold a wedding ceremony in Disney’s theme park in Japan. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
- A policeman guards under a giant flower pot at the Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, China. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is proposed to convene on November 8 in Beijing. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
- Mario Cantone attends the US launch of HRH The Prince of Wales’ Campaign For Wool at Bryant Park on September 27, 2012 in New York City. The Campaign, in the US for the first time, is to educate consumers about the natural benefits of wool and to promote wool-rich products to a national audience. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Campaign For Wool)
British, Chinese among 19 dead in Nepal plane crash
Gopal Sharma | Reuters
3:38 a.m. EDT, September 28, 2012
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – A small plane struck a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers, officials said.
The crash of the propeller-driven Dornier aircraft was the sixth fatal air accident in less than two years in Nepal, where more than a dozen small private carriers often brave bad weather to fly to mountain areas served by no proper road network.
Tourism officials said the latest accident could deter foreign tourists from embarking on treks in Nepal. Many of the dead were trekkers.
Rescuers pulled charred bodies from the smoldering wreckage in a field on a riverbank near the airport. The Dornier, one of three operated by private firm Sita Air, was bound on a clear morning for Lukla – a gateway to Mount Everest.