The Nepal government has directed concerned authorities to conduct technical inspections of all domestic flights after a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people on board, including five Indians, crashed while landing at the newly opened Pokhara airport on Sunday. At least 68 people. The cabinet meeting held in Baluwatar to assess the situation after Yeti Airlines 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft crash also constituted a five-member commission of inquiry headed by former aviation secretary Nagendra Ghimire to investigate the accident.
The plane, which took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am, crashed at the airport in Pokhara – a major tourist destination in the Himalayan nation. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the plane crashed on the banks of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport. There were a total of 68 passengers and four crew members.
The Indian Embassy tweeted, out of a total of 15 foreign nationals on board the aircraft, five were Indians. A Yeti Airlines official said the five Indians on board the crashed plane have been identified as Abhishek Kushwaha, Vishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjay Jaiswal.
“An ATR-72 aircraft of Yeti Airlines crashed near Pokhara airport today while taking off from Kathmandu. As per the information provided by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, 5 Indians were traveling in this flight. Rescue work is underway Indian mission tweeted.
The Embassy is in contact with the local authorities and monitoring the situation. An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers also declared January 16 as a public holiday in mourning for the victims of the Yeti Airlines plane crash.
Pokhara International Airport has been closed for all incoming and outgoing flights today, following the Yeti Airlines plane crash. Pictures and videos posted on social media platforms showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash site.
Nepal has a terrible record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in inhospitable rocky terrain. The last major air crash in Nepal was on May 29 when a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district, killing all 22 people on board, including four members of an Indian family.