Nepal shuts airport to big jets; more bodies found
Source: AP
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Runway damage forced Nepalese authorities to close the main airport Sunday to large aircraft delivering aid to millions of people following the massive earthquake, but U.N. officials said the overall logistics situation was improving.
The death toll climbed to 7,250, including six foreigners and 45 Nepalese found over the weekend on a popular trekking route, said government administrator Gautam Rimal. Nepal's Tourist Police reported that a total of 57 foreigners have been killed in the April 25 quake, and 109 are still missing, including 12 Russians and nine Americans.
The main runway was temporarily closed to big planes because of damage. It was built to handle only medium-size jetliners, but not the large military and cargo planes that have been flying in aid supplies, food, medicines, and rescue and humanitarian workers, said Birendra Shrestha, the manager of Tribhuwan International Airport, located on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
There have been reports of cracks on the runway and other problems at the only airport capable of handling jetliners.
FULL story and more photos at link.
Bodies of people who died a week ago during the earthquake lay alongside blocks of ice in the lobby of a building adjacent to a hospital morgue, where relatives can identify them, Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, May 3, 2015. The Kathmandu morgue has been struggling to keep up with the relentless flow of corpses in the aftermath of the April 25 earthquake that left more than a thousand dead just in the capital. (AP Photo/Bernat Amangue)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c345ffeac2a145ee86e23d3031688f6f/nepal-shuts-down-its-only-international-airport-big-jets
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