More than 100 Britons left stranded in earthquake-hit Nepal have been reunited with loved ones in emotional scenes after landing back on home soil.

Norwich Evening News: A Nepalese woman looks inside a damaged temple and prays in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, Nepal. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup)A Nepalese woman looks inside a damaged temple and prays in Bhaktapur near Kathmandu, Nepal. (AP Photo / Manish Swarup)

The first UK aid flight carrying 120 people landed at a private hangar at Stansted Airport shortly after 3am today.

Among those on board the Department for International Development (DfID) chartered Boeing 767 - which flew aid out to Nepal on Sunday - were children and the elderly and people chosen as a priority because of health conditions.

Some spoke of their lucky escapes and said they had seen many people, mainly locals, who had suffered far worse.

'A terrifying ordeal'

Norwich Evening News: British nationals arrive at London's Stansted Airport after they were evacuated from Nepal following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation on April 25 killing over 5,000 people. Photo: Niklas Allen / PA Wire.British nationals arrive at London's Stansted Airport after they were evacuated from Nepal following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation on April 25 killing over 5,000 people. Photo: Niklas Allen / PA Wire.

Kate Penty, 18, from Cambridge, was met off the plane by her parents.

She described running to find shelter as the quake hit. She said: 'It lasted about 30 seconds and was terrifying.

'We stayed in a hotel the day afterwards but it was falling down with us inside.

'We got to know several families in Nepal and their houses have been destroyed and they're living in tents.

'A lot of us are coming home determined to do whatever we can to help.'

Her father Richard said: 'We're just so pleased to see her.

'She got in touch to tell us she was OK but to actually see her is a great relief.'

Ingrid Chiene, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was greeted by her sons Harry, 12, and Ethan, 10.

She said: 'When it happened the whole building was moving from side to side and we thought it was going to fall down.

'We looked outside and we could see a Mexican wave of other buildings moving.

'The embassy staff have been absolutely fantastic and we've been well looked after.

'I've missed my kids and husband so much so I'm really happy to be back with them.'

Harry smiled as he and Ethan hugged their mother.

'We thought she might not be able to come home so it's brilliant to see her,' he said.

Plight continues

Earlier Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the first British fatality, while officials are 'urgently investigating' reports that another Briton has been killed at Mount Everest base camp.

Some 300 British citizens have been housed in the embassy in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday, claiming more than 5,000 lives.

Among the first off the plane was Roger Strachan, 19, from York, who had been in Nepal working as a voluntary teacher.

He said: 'I was in a restaurant in Kathmandu when the quake hit.

'We hid under a table while the building was shaking very violently and cracking and we were very lucky to escape.'

He said that now he is home he hopes to raise money for the communities he taught.

'We must remember there are thousands of Nepalese people living in very squalid shelters even at this moment and in a much more threatened position than we were in,' Mr Strachan said.

'We need to make sure this isn't forgotten in the news.'

The welcome return

Among the people to escape were husband and wife Grahame and Holly Jobes, from Sunderland.

Mrs Jobes is seven-months pregnant and said she was delighted to have her husband back.

'I've been worried sick - he described running down the streets and buildings falling on people around him,' she said.

'He's got three children at home and another one on the way and we were just desperate to get him home.'

Mr Jobes said: 'It was worse for her sitting at home worrying than it was for me

'We've been well looked after and we can't fault the aid effort and hospitality of the Nepalese people.

'But I'm looking forward to some family time now.'

The youngest passenger was a four-month-old baby while the oldest are thought to have been in their 60s.

Harry Quinn, 26, from Brighton, said he would have been in one of the worst hit parts of Kathmandu if his friends had not overslept.

He said: 'We'd been out the night before and had a few drinks but I was up early and ready to head out to see the sights.

'The others slept in and it's a good job they did because we would have been right at the centre of it.

'A hotel two doors down, which had turned us away because it was full, completely collapsed with 80 people inside.

'We followed the locals to open ground on a football field and then went to the embassy.'

A safe passage home

The flight left Kathmandu at 3pm UK time yesterday and stopped in Dubai on the way home.

Red Cross volunteers were on hand at the airport to help anybody with minor injuries or who was overcome with emotion.

A DfID spokesman said there were thought to be between 500 and 1,000 Britons in Nepal.

Most are safe but some have been unable to make contact with loved ones because of the collapse of communications infrastructure.