NEPAL: Officials reported on Monday that 21 dead were retrieved from the wreckage of the Tara Air jet that crashed in Nepal’s hilly Mustang area on Sunday with 22 people on board, including four Indians, minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara.
The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET jet went missing on Sunday morning in Nepal’s hilly territory.
Nepal plane crash
The Canadian-built plane, which was traveling from Pokhara to the popular tourist town of Jomsom in central Nepal, was carrying four Indians, two Germans, and 13 Nepalese passengers and a three-person Nepalese crew.
“Rescuers have recovered 21 bodies from the crash site, said a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). One person was still missing,” the statement added.
According to the report, 10 dead were transported to Kathmandu, while 11 bodies were sent to the base camp, from whence the rescue operation is being organised.
Tara Air spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula stated that search and rescue crews are scouring the area for the last victim.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba have both expressed their condolences for the deaths of the plane’s crew and passengers.
The government has appointed a five-member panel of inquiry led by renowned aeronautical engineer Ratish Chandra Lal Suman to determine the reason for the Tara Air plane disaster.
According to CAAN Director-General Pradeep Adhikari, the aircraft crashed into the mountains after swerving to the right instead of turning to the left due to bad weather during a Parliament’s International Committee meeting on Monday.
The CAAN announced earlier in the afternoon said that the jet had crashed in Thasang-2 in Mustang district at the height of 14,500 feet.
Inda Singh learned that the plane had crashed on his way to clear a blocked road.
“All the passengers on the aircraft are found dead,” he said.
“The dead bodies are intact and the faces of all victims are recognisable.”
He stated that there was no fire on the plane. The plane could have crashed after colliding with a nearby cliff.
At the crash scene, search and rescue teams from the Nepal Army, Air Dynasty, Kailash Helicopter, Fishtail Air Helicopter, and other rescue workers were deployed.
According to the CAAN, the 9N-AJR Helicopter of Fishtail Air was the first to land at the crash site and confirmed it at 8:10 a.m. today.
Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathy), and their children Dhanush and Ritika were named passengers on the airline’s list.
The family lived in Thane, a city near Mumbai.
The families of the Indian victims were waiting for the bodies to be identified in Kathmandu.
Brigadier General Narayan Silwal of the Nepal Army tweeted this morning that search and rescue teams had physically discovered the plane accident site.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the jet took off from Pokhara at 9:55 a.m. and lost communication with air control 12 minutes later at 10:07 a.m.
According to Tara Air spokesperson Bartaula, the bodies were strewn within a 100-meter radius of the primary impact point.
The plane slammed into the mountain, breaking into pieces, said Bartaula. “The impact has blown the bodies all over the hill,” he said.
The photo released on the social media platform shows that the aircraft’s tail and one wing are still intact.
On Sunday, the search was called off due to inclement weather and inadequate lighting.
Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s fourteen tallest mountains, including Everest, has a history of air disasters.
In 2016, a jet from the same airline travelling the same route crashed after takeoff, killing all 23 people on board.
In March 2018, a US-Bangla Air crash occurred at the Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 51 people on board.
According to the airline’s website, Tara Air is the newest and largest airline service provider in the Nepalese Himalayas. It began operations in 2009 intending to assist in the development of rural Nepal.
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