Nepal: the tragic story of the plane co-pilot who made his last flight before becoming a pilot

He was only a few steps away from fulfilling his dream of becoming a pilot. In fact, this was his last flight as co-pilot aboard a Yeti Airlines plane. But fate didn’t want it like this: anju khatiwadaa woman who loved to fly, is dead this Sunday, January 15, in the tragic accident in Nepal.

But there’s more. It is that her destiny wanted her story to be, unfortunately, very similar to that of her first husband, Deepak Pochrelwho was also co-pilot and died in a plane crash while working for the same airline on June 21, 2006.

​Almost 17 years ago, Yeti Airlines 9N AEQ plane, which was en route to Jumla from Nepalganj, crashed. Six passengers and four dead crew members were traveling on it. One of the dead was, in fact, Anju’s husband.

The dramatic story of Anju Khatiwada

According to local media reports, anju khatiwada born in biratnagar, a small town in southeast Nepal. There he finished high school and then went to study in India and trained in America.

After her first husband’s accident -which had many coincidences with what happened now-, she started working for Yeti Airlines. Anju had a batting average of 22 year old daughterfruit of his first marriage, ea 7 year old boywith her second husband.

This Sunday was not another flight. It would be the last time she would accompany from the passenger seat. It’s that Anju was going to obtain an expert pilot’s license and would be the commander in charge of the aircraft.

Therefore, with the idea of ​​completing the mandatory 100 hours in flight and becoming an aircraft captain, Anju was doing this trip with her instructorKamal KC, a senior pilot with 35 years of experience.

As evidenced by local media, Anju had landed successfully in almost all the above airports in Nepal.

Once they landed, he could have granted his greatest wish. He did not make it in less than 10 seconds everything collapsed.

The aircraft, a twin-engine turboprop ATR-72, crashed in a wooded area located on the banks of the Seti River, flowing between the former Domestic Airport and Pokhra International Airport,

Only twenty minutes had passed since takeoff and the plane was about to land at Pokhara airport, a very popular tourist hub in that country.

On board they traveled 72 people4 crew members and 68 passengers, including one Argentinean, five Indian nationals, four Russians, two Koreans, one Australian, one Irish and one Frenchman, the airline spokesman said as soon as news of the accident became known.

So far, 68 bodies have been recovered and intense work is underway to find the remaining four.

Condolences from the authorities

As reported by the Nepalese authorities, this has become the worst plane crash in that country for the past three decades.

About the fact, the Prime Minister of NepalPushpa Kamal Dahal said he was “deeply saddened by the sad and tragic incident”.

For your part, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Aviation of the country, he tweeted his condolences. “The loss of life in a tragic plane crash in Nepal is extremely unfortunate. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bereaved,” she posted.