Rescuers and observers gather on the plane crash site in Pokhara on January 15, 2023. A plane with 72 people on board crashed in Nepal on January 15, Yeti Airlines and an area official said.
Krishna Mani Baral | afp | Getty’s paintings
At least 68 people died on Sunday when a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said, in the worst plane crash in three many years in the small Himalayan country.
A whole lot of rescuers combed the hillside where a Yeti Airlines plane carrying 72 people from the capital Kathmandu landed.
Local TV showed rescuers working their way through damaged parts of the plane. A part of the bottom near the crash site was scorched, with patches of flame visible.
The Aviation Safety Network database found it to be the deadliest disaster in Nepal since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed right into a hillside on approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.
The aircraft made contact with the airport from Seti Gorge at 10:50 am (0505 GMT), aviation authorities said in an announcement. “Then it crashed.”
Police officer Ajay KC said rescuers had difficulty reaching the positioning in a ravine between two hills near the airport in the tourist town.
“Half the plane is on the hillside,” said Arun Tamu, an area resident who told Reuters he arrived minutes after the plane went down. “The opposite half fell into the gorge of the Seti River.”
Khum Bahadur Chhetri said he watched an approaching plane from the roof of his house.
“I saw the plane shaking, moving left and right, then suddenly its nose dived and fell right into a ravine,” Chhetri told Reuters, adding that local residents took two passengers to the hospital.
The federal government has arrange a panel to research the reason behind the disaster to report back inside 45 days, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel told reporters.
A series of failures
Nearly 350 people have died in an airplane or helicopter since 2000 accident in Nepal – is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where sudden weather changes may cause dangerous conditions.
The European Union has banned Nepalese airlines from entering its airspace since 2013, citing security concerns.
In an announcement from the Civil Aviation Authority, three infants and three children were on board the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft.
Among the many passengers were five Indians, 4 Russians and one Irishman, two South Koreans, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian.
Traveling to Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city, nestled beneath the scenic Annapurna Mountain, from the capital Kathmandu is probably the most popular tourist routes in the Himalayas, with many preferring a brief flight as a substitute of a six-hour drive through hilly roads.
Pokhara Airport spokesman Anup Joshi said the plane crashed because it approached the airport, adding that “the plane was flying at 12,500 feet and was on a traditional descent.” The weather was clear on Sunday.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 tweeted that the Yeti Airlines plane was 15 years old and was equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data. He added that the last transponder signal was received at 05:12 GMT at 2,875 feet above sea level.
In accordance with FlightRadar24, Pokhara Airport is positioned at around 2700-2800 feet above sea level.
The ATR72 of the European aircraft manufacturer ATR is a widely used twin-engine turboprop aircraft produced by a three way partnership between Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 aircraft, in keeping with its website.
“ATR specialists are fully committed to supporting each the investigation and the client,” the corporate tweeted.
Airbus and Leonardo didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Yeti describes itself as a number one domestic carrier on its website. His fleet consists of six ATR 72-500s, including the one which crashed. The corporate also owns Tara Air, and together they provide the “widest network” in Nepal, in keeping with the corporate.