News

Nepal plane crash: Rescuers resume search as day of mourning observed | World News


Rescuers have continued to search for four people still missing after the deadliest plane crash in Nepal in 30 years, officials said.

The ATR 72, operated by Yeti Airlines, is carrying 72 people when in accident in the tourist city of Pokhara minutes before landing in clear weather on Sunday.

Rescuers have so far recovered 68 bodies.

Nepal declared Monday a day of national mourning and has set up a committee to investigate the disaster and recommend measures to avoid such incidents in the future.

It is not yet clear what caused the accident.

The plane, on a scheduled flight from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to Pokhara, the gateway to the stunning Annapurna Mountains, was carrying 57 Nepalese, five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans and one arrival. from Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France. .

Police official Pokhara Ajay KC said the search and rescue operation, which was halted due to late Sunday night, has now resumed.

“We will take five bodies out of the canyon and search for the remaining four who are still missing,” he said.

He said another 63 bodies had been transferred to the hospital.

A spokesman for Nepal’s civil aviation authority said rescuers were also searching for the black boxes – a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – as they searched for survivors.

Authorities said the bodies would be handed over to the family after identification and autopsy.

Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player

Plane overturned before crashing in Nepal

Pictures and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash site as rescuers, soldiers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the plane to find them. Find survivors.

The fuselage was divided into several parts scattered down the canyon.

Tek Bahadur KC, a senior administrative official in Kaski district, said he hoped rescuers would find more bodies at the bottom of the canyon.

Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site to help with the search, said rescue efforts were hampered by thick smoke and intense flames engulfing the plane.

“The fire was so hot that we couldn’t get close to the wreckage,” he said.

Gaurav Gurung, a witness, said he saw the plane spinning wildly in the air after it started trying to land.

He added that he saw the plane bow to its left side and then crash into the canyon.

“The plane caught fire after the crash. Smoke was everywhere,” Mr. Gurung said.

Rescue workers and Nepalese people gather around the wreckage of the crashed passenger plane
Picture:
Rescue workers and Nepalese people gather around the wreckage of the crashed passenger plane

Read more world news:
Hope fades for survivors of Dnipro attack as death toll hits 30
A British woman died in an avalanche in the French Alps

At the crash site near the Seti River, nearly a mile from Pokhara International Airport, rescuers sprayed water cannons and pulled ropes to another part of the smoldering wreckage below.

The aviation authority said the plane last made contact with the airport from near the Seti Canyon at 10:50 a.m. local time.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, formed a panel to investigate the crash.

“The incident is tragic. The entire force of the Nepalese army, the police has been deployed to rescue,” he said.

The type of aircraft involved is already used by a number of airlines around the world for short-haul regional flights.

Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the model has been implicated in a number of fatal crashes over the years.

Rescuers and Nepalese people gathered around the wreckage.  Photo: AP
Picture:
Rescuers and Nepalese people gather around the wreckage. Photo: AP

In 2018, an ATR 72 operated by Iran’s Aseman airline crashed in the foggy mountains, killing all 65 people on board.

ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday’s crash as ATR 72-500 in a tweet.

According to aircraft tracking data from Flightradar24.com, the plane was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data”.

It was previously flown by India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Thailand’s Nok Air before Yeti took over it in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net.

Spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 aircraft.

Sunday’s crash was the deadliest in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people on board the Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed into a hill while trying to land. in Kathmandu.

Nearly 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14.
the highest mountains, including Everest, where sudden weather changes can create dangerous conditions.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button