68 Dead As Nepal Plane With 72 On Board Crashes Minutes Before Landing

According to AFP, which cited the police, at least 68 people have perished in Nepal today when a plane carrying about 72 people from the capital Kathmandu crashed in Pokhara this morning. The aircraft that crashed in western Nepal between the city’s old and new airports carried 68 passengers and four crew members. The Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was flying from Kathmandu, the country of Nepal.
There were six kids and 15 foreign passengers. The airline added in a statement that there were 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentinian, and 1 each from Ireland, Australia, and France on board.”Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were found in the gorge where the aircraft crashed.

A roaring fire at the wreckage has made rescue efforts challenging, Nepali journalist Dilip Thapa told NDTV. Soon after the crash, Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as “Prachanda,” held an urgent cabinet meeting. The Nepali government also established a five-member committee of investigation to look into the tragedy. At 10:33 am, the plane departed Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

The plane crashed into a river gorge on the side of the Seti River as it was about to land at the Pokhara airport. The fact that the incident occurred about 20 minutes after takeoff suggests that the plane may have been in descent. The flight takes 25 minutes to travel between the two cities.

A local official was quoted as stating that rescuers were attempting to put out the flames started by the airliner as it fell.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of union civil aviation, expressed his condolences for the victims of the jet disaster.

Concerns about safety and inadequate personnel training have plagued Nepal’s airline industry. After the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) raised safety concerns, the European Union placed Nepal on the flight safety blacklist in 2013, ordering a complete ban on all flights from the Himalayan nation into its airspace.

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