KATHMANDU, Jan 15:
At least 68 people were killed when a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal’s resort city of Pokhara today, a rescue official said.
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Yeti Airlines’ 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft.
“So far, dead bodies of 68 people have been recovered from the crash site,” an official at the Search and Rescue Coordination Committee of the CAAN told PTI over the phone.
However, the dead bodies are yet to be identified, he added. Efforts are on to recover four more bodies, he said.
Foreign nationals onboard the plane included five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, an Australian, a French, an Argentine and an Israeli.
The five Indians have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal.
There is no information about any survivor so far, said Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson at Yeti Airlines.
“The weather in Pokhara was absolutely fine and the engine of the aircraft was also in good condition,” he said.
“We don’t know what has happened to the airplane,” he said.
The search for the remaining four people onboard is underway.
However, some local media reported that the aircraft took a wider turn while attempting to land, which may have caused the accident. It was a new airport built under a Chinese soft loan and inaugurated just two weeks ago.
“An ATR-72 plane of Yeti Airlines crashed today near the Pokhara Airport while flying from Kathmandu. According to the info provided by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, 5 Indians were travelling on this flight. Rescue operations are underway,” the Indian mission tweeted.
The embassy is in touch with local authorities and is monitoring the situation, it said.
“Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families,” India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted and shared the helpline numbers of the Indian Embassy.
According to Tek Bahadur KC, Chief District Officer of the Kaski district, the plane crashed into the Seti river gorge. Rescue operations are currently being conducted, he was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times newspaper.
Among the passengers were three infants, three children.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following the crash (PTI)
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