Yeti airline plane crashed on the banks of Seti river while landing at Pokhara airport in Nepal. There were 72 people including five Indian nationals on board the plane. Officials said efforts are on to recover four more bodies.

Kathmandu: A Nepalese passenger plane crashed into a river valley on Sunday while landing at Pokhara airport, killing at least 68 people. A rescue officer gave this information. There were 72 people including five Indian nationals on board the plane.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said that Yeti Airline’s 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft had taken off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu at 10.33 am. While landing at Pokhara airport, the plane crashed on the banks of Seti river between the old airport and the new airport.

“So far 68 bodies have been recovered from the crash site,” an official of CAAN’s Coordination Committee, Search and Rescue told over phone.

The official said that the bodies have not been identified yet. He said that efforts are on to recover four more bodies. Apart from five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, one each from Australia, France, Argentina, Israel were on board the plane.

#Nepal
72 passengers were on board. Plane crash at Pokhra International Airport. pic.twitter.com/igBoObcCDm

— Aishwarya Paliwal (@AishPaliwal) January 15, 2023

The five Indians on board have been identified as Abhishek Kushwaha, Vishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjay Jaiswal.

Yeti Airline spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said that there is no information about any survivors so far. He said, ‘The weather at Pokhra was absolutely fine and the engine of the aircraft was also in good condition. We do not know what happened to the aeroplane.

Officials said efforts are on to recover four more bodies.

However, some local media reports said that the plane had veered too much while landing, which may have been the cause of the accident. This is a new airport built under Chinese loan and was inaugurated just two weeks back.

The Indian Embassy tweeted, ‘An ATR-72 aircraft of Yeti Airline crashed near Pokhara airport after taking off from Kathmandu. According to the information provided by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, five Indian nationals were also aboard this aircraft. Rescue operation is going on.

Embassy of India, Kathmandu expresses its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.

— IndiaInNepal (@IndiaInNepal) January 15, 2023

It was said in the tweet that the embassy is in touch with the local authorities and is monitoring the situation.

Sharing the helpline numbers issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the Indian Embassy said that the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu expresses its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.

foreign Minister s. Jaishankar Said in a tweet, ‘Deeply saddened to hear about the plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our condolences are with the affected families.

Jaishankar also shared the helpline numbers of the Indian Embassy.

The ‘Himalayan Times’ newspaper quoted Tek Bahadur KC, Chief District Officer of Kaski district, as saying that the plane crashed in the Seti river valley and rescue operations are still underway. There were also three newborns and three children among the passengers.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ called an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers after the accident. In a meeting held on Sunday afternoon, it was decided to declare January 16 as a public holiday to mourn the loss of lives in the Yeti airline plane crash.

Prachanda expressed grief over the accident and directed the Ministry of Home Affairs, security personnel and all government agencies to carry out rescue and relief operations immediately.

The government has constituted a five-member inquiry committee under the leadership of Nagendra Ghimire, former secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, to investigate the accident. The government has also directed that every domestic airline’s aircraft should be strictly screened before it takes off.

#Nepal #PlaneCrash: Death Toll Reaches 45#Breaking pic.twitter.com/SXJOtoXJAo

— Surabhi Tiwari🇮🇳 (@surabhi_tiwari_) January 15, 2023

Pokhara International Airport was closed for incoming and outgoing flights today following the plane crash. Pictures and videos posted on social media platforms showed plumes of smoke rising from the accident site. Immediately after the accident, the police reached the spot and started the rescue operation.

However, the police said that it was not possible to deploy sufficient manpower. Police said that it took a lot of effort to control the fire, as the fire fighting equipment could not reach the ditch, where the accident took place.

Kaski’s police spokesperson Gyan Bahadur Khadka said that due to the difficult terrain, there is a problem in the rescue operation. After the plane crashed in Pokhara, a large number of people gathered around the crash site.

Khadka said that this hindered the rescue process. He said, ‘There is a crowd of thousands of people. Due to the crowd, there was a problem in the rescue operation and ambulances and fire engines also had difficulty in reaching there.

Nepal has a very poor record of plane accidents due to the sudden change of weather and airstrips built in inaccessible places.

The last major plane crash in the country was on May 29 last year when a ‘Tara Air’ plane crashed in the mountainous Mustang district, killing all 22 people on board, including four members of an Indian family.

A total of 22 people including four Indians, two Germans and 13 Nepalese nationals were on board the aircraft.

In the year 2016, an aircraft of the same airline had crashed while flying on the same route, in which all 23 people on board had died. In March 2018, 51 people died in a plane crash at Tribhuvan International Airport.

In September 2012, a Sita Air plane crashed while making an emergency landing at Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 19 people. On 14 May 2012, a plane while flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed near Jomsom airport, killing 15 people.

January 15, 2023: A passenger plane of Nepal crashed into a river valley while landing at Pokhara airport. There were 72 people including 10 foreigners in the plane.

May 30, 2022: A DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft of ‘Tara Air’ crashed in the Mustang area of ​​Nepal, killing all 22 people on board.

March 21, 2022: A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed in the mountainous region of Guangxi near Guangzhou, China, killing all 133 people on board.

January 09, 2021: A Boeing 737 operated by Srivijaya Air crashed into the Java Sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta. All 62 people aboard the plane were killed.

August 07, 2020: An Air India plane crashed at Kozhikode (Calicut) International Airport in Kerala. The plane coming from Dubai overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport and later broke into pieces. There were 186 people on board the plane. A total of 21 people including the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the accident.

May 22, 2020: An Airbus A320 aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines, carrying 97 passengers and eight crew members, crashed in Karachi, Pakistan. It is considered one of the most devastating aviation accidents in the country’s aviation history.

January 08, 2020: Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.

March 10, 2019: The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa. There were 157 people on board the plane. All the people in it died in the accident. The victims were from 30 different countries.

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