kathmandu13 hours ago
The black box of Yeti Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday morning in Nepal has been found. It has been handed over to the Army for investigation. According to airport authority sources, the black box was found this morning during the rescue operation for the missing people. The black box is completely safe and preparations are on to hand it over to the investigation team.
People engaged in relief and rescue work have recovered 70 bodies so far. At the same time, postmortem of only 24 dead bodies will be done in Pokhara Hospital. 2 people are missing, search operation is being conducted to find them. 42 bodies have been identified. On the other hand, Nepali Army spokesman Krishna Prasad Bhandari said on Monday that they have not found anyone alive from the crash site yet.
The black box of the crashed plane has been handed over to the investigation team by the rescue team of Nepali Army.
The four missing bodies are estimated to be of children.
Tribhuvan International Airport General Manager Premnath Thakur said that there were three children below the age of 2 years and three children below the age of 10 years in the plane. The dead bodies of all adult men and women have been collected. So far only one child-like body has been found, that means all the remaining bodies will be of children only. Due to the dead bodies of children, there is a lot of difficulty in finding them.
The rescue team said that the rear part of the plane was also found on the top of the mountain and the black box was recovered near the rear part.
Plane collided with mountain 10 seconds before landing
The plane hit a mountain and fell into a river just 10 seconds before landing at Pokhara airport, about 200 km from Kathmandu. There were 68 passengers and four crew members on board the plane ATR-72. 68 bodies have been recovered, while four people are missing. In search of them, the local administration had also launched divers in the river, but did not get success. The search operation was called off yesterday due to darkness.
The search operation has been resumed today to find the 4 missing people in the accident.
Preparation to hand over the dead bodies to the relatives today
The bodies of those who died in the plane crash will be handed over to their relatives today after completing the necessary procedures. Kaski’s Assistant Chief District Officer Anil Shahi said that preparations are being made to hand over the identified dead bodies to the concerned families after completing the process from 9 am. He said that preparations are being made to send the bodies of unidentified foreign nationals and people whose relatives are in Kathmandu by helicopter.
Yeti Airlines plane ATR-72 flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara on Sunday.
Indian Embassy issued helpline numbers
The Indian Embassy has issued helpline numbers regarding the accident. These include Diwakar Sharma: +977-9851107021 for Kathmandu and Lt Col Shashank Tripathi: +977-9856037699 for Pokhara region. On both these numbers, the relatives of the deceased Indian passengers can talk for any kind of help.
Flight was going from Kathmandu to Pokhara
The accident took place between the old airport and Pokhara airport at Pokhara in Kaski district. According to reports, the flight took off from Kathmandu to Pokhara at 10:33 am on Sunday. Pokhara Airport is 206 km from Kathmandu. It takes 25 minutes to reach here. The plane crashed into a hill just 10 seconds before landing at Pokhara International Airport. Due to this the plane caught fire and it fell into the ditch.
Plane crashed due to mechanical fault
It has been said by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal that the accident occurred due to mechanical fault. All pre-flight technical checks and procedures were completed and no technical defects were observed. Seeing the pictures and footage of the accident that have come to the fore, no one is expected to survive.
The Civil Aviation Authority says that flames were seen in the plane 10 seconds before landing, so it cannot be said that the accident happened due to bad weather. Initially it was said that the accident happened due to bad weather.
After the accident, the plane fell into this ditch on the river bank. Because of this, there was a lot of difficulty in the rescue work.
Pilot asked for permission to land twice
According to the sources of Pokhara Airport ATC, the accident happened just a few meters away from the runway. Pokhara’s runway is built in the east-west direction. The pilot had earlier sought permission to land from the east and permission was also granted. In a short while, the pilot asked for permission to land from the west and was given permission again, but the plane crashed 10 seconds before landing.
According to local media, the army took over the rescue operation after about two to three hours of the accident.
The news of the accident was received an hour after the crash.
According to local media, the accident happened around 10.57 am on Sunday. The plane hit the hill and fell into the ditch near Yeti river. The local people reached out for relief and rescue. However, this news came in the media after an hour i.e. around 12 noon.
China built the airport where the landing was to take place; Inauguration took place on 1 January
The Pokhara International Airport built with the help of China was inaugurated by the newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ two weeks ago i.e. on January 1 this year. The project was part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation. According to the Kathmandu Post newspaper, the Nepal government had signed a soft loan agreement of Rs 22 billion with China in March 2016 for the construction of the airport.
The Pokhara airport, built amidst the beautiful plains of the Himalayas, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on January 1 itself.
68 bodies removed from the wreckage of the plane
Pokhara District Magistrate Tek Bahadur KC said that 68 bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage of the plane. However, eyewitnesses say that no one survived the accident. So far only five bodies have been identified. It is difficult to identify the rest of the bodies. Two people, both fishermen, were pulled out alive from the scene. So far 20 bodies have been identified. Unidentified bodies will be sent by helicopter to Kathmandu for DNA test.
After the accident, the rescue team searching for people during the rescue operation, the local people also helped them.
There were 14 foreign nationals including 5 Indians in the plane
Captain Kamal KC was flying the aircraft. Of the 68 passengers, 53 were Nepalese, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, one Irish, two Koreans, one Afghan and one French national. These include 3 newborns and 3 boys. All the five Indians were from UP. Airlines spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said that no survivor has been pulled out from the wreckage of the plane so far.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal says that the plane crashed due to a mechanical fault.
The video before the plane crash went viral, in which the plane was seen tilting to one side.
This video is viral on social media. In this, just before the accident, the plane is seen suddenly tilting.
The same plane that flew the demo crashed
Yeti Airlines’ 9N ANC aircraft did a demo flight on January 1, 2023, the day of Pokhara International Airport’s inauguration. The capacity of this aircraft was 70 passengers, not including the crew. Its maximum speed was 309 miles i.e. about 500 km / h. This twin-engine aircraft was fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW 127 engines.
This aircraft of Yeti Airlines was used for demo flight at the inauguration of Pokhara International Airport.
198 killed in 8 major plane crashes in Nepal in 13 years
Last year there were 22 deaths in a plane crash in Nepal.
In May last year also, 19 passengers and 3 crew members lost their lives due to a plane crash in Nepal. There were also 4 Indians in this plane. The search and rescue team of the Nepal Army found debris on the hill in Sanosware area of Mustang. The aircraft was 43 years old. The Government of Nepal had formed a 5-member commission to investigate the Tara aircraft crash, which was also tasked with giving suggestions to avoid plane crash incidents.
After the accident last year, the wreckage of the plane was found on the hill of Sanosware.
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