New Delhi: A plane making a 27-minute flight to a Nepal tourist town crashed into a gorge Sunday while attempting to land at a newly opened airport, killing at least 68 of the 72 people. At least one witness reported hearing cries for help from the fiery wreck. It’s the country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades.
The Yeti Airline ATR-72 aircraft crashed on the runway at Pokhara International Airport. "So far, dead bodies of 68 people have been recovered from the crash site," said an official at the Search and Rescue Coordination Committee. Efforts are on to recover four more bodies, he said.
Five Indian nationals were among 15 foreigners on the plane including four Russians, two Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Argentina, Australia, and France. The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines was en route from Nepal's capital Kathmandu.
Hours after dark, scores of onlookers crowded around the crash site near the airport as rescue workers combed the wreckage on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below. Officials suspended the search for the four missing people overnight and planned to resume looking Monday. Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site near the Seti River to help search for bodies, said the rescue efforts were hampered by thick smoke and a raging fire.
“The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage. I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him,” Tiwari said. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said.
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A witness was quoted as saying by the news agency Associated Press that he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began landing, watching from the terrace of his house. Finally, Gaurav Gurung said, the plane fell nose-first towards its left and crashed into the gorge. The aviation authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, located 200 kilometers west. Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site, about 1.6 kilometers (nearly a mile) away from Pokhara International Airport. The aircraft’s fuselage was split into multiple parts that were scattered down the gorge.
Firefighters carried bodies, some burned beyond recognition, to hospitals where grief-stricken relatives had assembled. At Kathmandu airport, family members appeared distraught as they were escorted in and at times exchanged heated words with officials as they waited for information.
Tek Bahadur K. C., a senior administrative officer in the Kaski district, said he expected rescue workers to find more bodies at the bottom of the gorge. Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas. The city’s new international airport began operations only two weeks ago.
As for the five Indians aboard the ill-fated plane, they have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal. The Pokhara International Airport, built with Chinese assistance, was inaugurated two weeks ago by Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda'.
A five-member committee has also been formed to investigate the reasons for the crash. Earlier, Prachanda held an emergency meeting of the Cabinet after the crash. The emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Sunday afternoon has decided to announce a public holiday on January 16 to mourn the victims of the plane crash. The Prime Minister expressed sadness over the crash and directed the Home Ministry, security personnel and all the government agencies to carry out immediate recovery and relief operations.
Meanwhile, India's Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday condoled the loss of lives in the plane crash. "The loss of lives in a tragic plane crash in Nepal is extremely unfortunate. My thoughts & prayers are with the families of the bereaved. Om Shanti," Scindia said in a tweet.
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Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains. The last major air accident in Nepal happened on May 29 when all 22 people onboard, including four members of an Indian family, were killed as a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district.
In 2016, all 23 people aboard were killed when a plane of the same airline flying the same route crashed after takeoff. In March 2018, a US-Bangla Air crash occurred at the Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 51 people on board. A Sita Air flight crashed in September 2012 while making an emergency landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 19 people. A plane flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed near Jomsom airport on May 14, 2012, killing 15 people.
