New Delhi:
At least 68 people were killed in Nepal this morning after a plane carrying about 72 people from. The capital Kathmandu crashed in Pokhara, police said, citing police. The plane, which crashed between the old and new airports of the city in western Nepal, was carrying 68 passengers and four crew members. The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Yeti Airlines, was flying from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
15 foreign nationals and six children were on board. The airline said in a statement that there were 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans. 1 Argentinian and one each from Ireland, Australia and France.
“31 (bodies) have been taken to hospital,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that another 36 bodies were found where the plane crashed.
Nepali journalist Dilip Thapa told NDTV that the fire in the wreckage has made rescue operations difficult. Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency Cabinet meeting soon after the ‘major’ accident. And the Nepalese government set up a five-member commission of inquiry to investigate the incident.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the plane took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am.
The plane was close to landing at Pokhara Airport, when it crashed into a river gorge on the banks of the Seti River. The crash occurred about 20 minutes after take-off, with speculation that the plane might have landed. The flight time between the two cities is 25 minutes.
“We don’t know right now if anyone is alive,” airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told AFP.
A local official was quoted as saying that the plane caught fire as it crashed and rescue workers were trying to put it out.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed grief over the loss of life in the plane crash.
“Extremely unfortunate loss of life in a tragic plane crash in Nepal. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families. Om Shanti,” he tweeted.
Nepal’s airline business has been plagued by concerns over safety, and inadequate training of staff. The European Union has placed Nepal on a flight safety blacklist since 2013 after. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) raised safety concerns, ordering a ban on all flights from the Himalayan country into its airspace.
The news agency AFP reported that hundreds of people have died in a terrible plane crash in Nepal.
In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepalese carrier Tara Air – 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans – died when it crashed.
In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu’s international airport, killing 51 people.
The crash was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane. Crashed en route to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.
Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways plane crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.
