Dozens killed after Nepal plane crashes during landing

Authorities in Nepal say 68 people have been confirmed dead after a regional passenger plane with 72 passengers crashed into a ravine while landing at the newly opened airport in the resort city of Pokhara. It was the country’s worst plane crash in three decades.

Tek Bahadur KC, senior administrative officer of Kaski district, announced on Sunday as rescuers were searching the crash site near Seti River, about 1.6 kilometers from Pokhara International Airport.

At the crash site, rescuers used ropes to pull bodies from the wreckage. Some of the bodies, burned beyond recognition, were taken by firefighters to the hospital, where grieving relatives gathered.

Bahadur said he expected rescue workers to find more victims at the bottom of the ravine.

It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash.

The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Yeti Airlines Nepal, flies from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, a 27-minute flight. It was carrying 68 passengers including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement. Foreigners include five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.

Aviation authorities said the plane last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before the crash.

The fuselage is divided into several parts

Pictures and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash site as rescue workers, Nepalese soldiers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage to find survivors. The plane’s fuselage was split into several parts scattered across the ravine.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the accident, set up a panel to investigate the accident.

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

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was still trying to confirm the fate of the two South Korean passengers and had sent staff to the scene.

The type of aircraft involved, the ATR 72, is already used by several airlines around the world for short regional flights. Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the aircraft model has been involved in several fatal accidents over the years. In 2018, an ATR 72 operated by Iran’s Aseman Airlines crashed in a foggy mountainous area, killing 65 people on board.

ATR identified the plane that crashed on Sunday as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to aircraft tracking data from flightradar24.com, the plane is 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 in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 aircraft, company spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said.

Pokhara, located 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas.

Pokhara International Airport started operations only two weeks ago. It was built with Chinese construction and financial support. China’s ambassador to Nepal, Chen Song, said in a tweet he was “deeply shocked” to learn of the accident.

“At this difficult time, our thoughts are with the people of Nepal. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims, and my sincere sympathy to the bereaved families,” he wrote.

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

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. According to the Aviation Safety Foundation Flight Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.

Last year, 22 people were killed when a plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal. In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu crashed after takeoff, killing all 23 people on board.

In 2012, an Agni Air plane flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed, killing 15 people. Six people survived. In 2014, a Nepal Airlines plane flying from Pokhara to Jumla crashed, killing 18 people on board.

In 1992, all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines flight were killed when it plowed into a hill while trying to land in Kathmandu.

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A 72-seat Nepali passenger plane crashed into a ravine while landing at the newly opened airport in the central resort city of Pokhara on Sunday, killing at least 32 people, officials said.

Rescuers are searching the crash site near the Seti River, which is nearly 1.6 kilometers from Pokhara International Airport, and hope to find more bodies, said Tek Bahadur KC, a senior administrative officer in Kaski district.

It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash.

The twin-engine ATR 72 plane operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, and four crew members, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement. Foreigners include five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.

Gateway to popular hiking trails

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, said the plane was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara. He called on security personnel and the general public to assist in rescue efforts.

Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash site as rescue workers, Nepalese soldiers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the plane.

Pokhara, located 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas. Pokhara International Airport started operations only two weeks ago.

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes.

Last year, 22 people were killed when a plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal. In 2018, a US-Bangla passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board.

In 1992, all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines flight were killed when it plowed into a hill while trying to land in Kathmandu.