Professor killed in plane crash

Photo courtesy Miller Schol of Medicine
Photo courtesy Miller Schol of Medicine

Dr. Jagajan Karmacharya, an associate professor at the Miller School of Medicine, was killed Sunday along with his girlfriend in a plane crash near the capital of Nepal.
Karmacharya, who was also the chief of vascular surgery at Miami’s Veterans’ Administration Hospital, had traveled to his home country of Nepal to visit his sick mother and introduce her to his girlfriend.
Accompanied by his brother and sister-in-law, the couple had taken a Buddha Air sightseeing flight to Mount Everest. Investigators suspect that the aircraft crashed while attempting to land.
Karmacharya’s brother was taken to the hospital, where he died later that day. The crash claimed the lives of all 19 passengers on board.
According to BBC News, crashes involving small planes are not uncommon in Nepal.
This is Buddha Air’s first severe accident in nearly 14 years, according to the Miami Herald.
Karmacharya has been with the Miller School for three years. He played a key role in getting the school accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for the Vascular Surgery Fellowship.
“This is not just sad for us; it’s a great family tragedy,” Alan Livingstone told the Miami Herald. Livingstone is the chairman of the department of surgery at UM’s Miller School of Medicine and was Karmacharya’s supervisor.
Karmacharya is survived by his teenage son, his two brothers and his mother.