In the midst of the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane disaster in 30 years, rescuers in Nepal have started looking again for the four individuals who are still missing.
Out of the 72 individuals on board the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 aircraft that crashed in the tourist destination of Pokhara on Sunday in clear weather, 68 dead have been found by rescuers.
The jet was carrying 57 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia, and France on a scheduled 27-minute flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara, the entry point to the picturesque Annapurna mountain range.
Ajay K C, a Pokhara police official, reported that the search and rescue effort, which was suspended on Sunday due to darkness, had been restarted.
He told the Reuters news agency on Monday, “We will remove the five dead from the gorge and look for the four who are still missing.”
He claimed that a hospital had received the other 63 bodies. Authorities stated that following identification and examination, bodies would be given to relatives.
According to a report by The Associated Press, at least one witness claimed to have heard calls for help coming from within the burning wreck.
Bishnu Tiwari, a local resident who hurried to the crash site near the Seti River to assist in the hunt for remains, claimed that heavy smoke and a blazing fire hindered rescue attempts.
We were unable to approach the wreckage because the flames were so intense. The flames and smoke prevented us from assisting the man I overheard pleading for help, Tiwari added.
As they hunted for survivors, rescuers were also looking for the black boxes, which included the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, according to Jagannath Niroula, a spokesman for Nepal’s civil aviation department.
The cause of the collision was not immediately apparent, according to the authority. Just two weeks ago, Pokhara’s brand-new international airport opened for business.
Following the crash, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal hurried to the airport. He also announced the formation of a committee to study the accident and make recommendations on how to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
In Nepal, which is home to eight of the world’s fourteen tallest mountains, including Everest, where rapid weather changes can create hazardous conditions, about 350 people have perished in aircraft or helicopter crashes since 2000.
Since 1946, 42 fatal aviation crashes have occurred in Nepal, according to the Aviation Safety database maintained by the Flight Safety Foundation.
The accident on Sunday is the deadliest in Nepal since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed into a hill while attempting to land in Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.
According to the AP article, the European Union has prohibited airlines from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation union since 2013, citing lax safety standards.
Improvements in Nepal’s aviation industry were noted by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2017, although the EU is still pushing for administrative changes.
