Nepal, mourning the tragedy of the Yeti Airlines plane: “The hope of finding someone alive is nil”

Without any hope of finding survivors, Nepal commemorate this day a day of national mourning following Sunday’s plane crash in which at least 68 people, including an Argentinean, died in the country’s worst catastrophe of its kind in three decades.

There is “no hope” of finding any survivors among the 72 people on board the plane (68 passengers and 4 crew members) that crashed in Nepal on Sunday, a senior local official told AFP news agency.

“So far we have recovered 68 bodies. We are looking for four more bodies… We pray for a miracle. But the hope of finding someone alive is nilTek Bahadur KC, head of Taksi district where the plane crashed, said.

The plane, a Yeti Airlines ATR 72 from Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, crashed with 72 people just before 11 in the morning local time (2:15 in Argentina) near Pokhara (downtown), where it should have land.

As a result of the accident, he died Jannet Sandra Palavecinoan entrepreneur from Neuquén who ran a hotel in that province and who, as she herself described on her social networks, was “passionate” about the mountains, cycling, the countryside, orchards and paintings.

The burning plane was found in a 300-metre-deep precipice between the old airport built in 1958 and the new international terminal inaugurated on January 1 in Pokhara, the gateway for excursionists from all over the world.

Soldiers have been using ropes to retrieve the bodies from the bottom of the ravine since late Sunday and early Monday, according to the AFP news agency.

“Due to the fog, the search was stopped. We will resume in an hour or two when the weather improves,” police officer AK Chhetri said today.

They were on board the plane 15 foreigners: one Argentinian, five Indian nationals, four Russians, two Koreans, one Australian, one Irish and one Frenchman, airline spokesman Sudarshan Bardaula said.

After the accident, the rescuers tried to put out the fire among the remains of the bomb, an ATR 72 powered by two turboprop engines.

In a statement dated Toulouse in southwestern France, ATR, the aircraft manufacturer, specified that it was a 72-500 model, adding that its specialists were “fully committed to supporting both the investigation and the customer”.

In a video shared on social networks, the plane can be seen fly low over a residential area before veering sharply to the left, whereupon a loud explosion is heard.

“I was walking when I heard a huge explosion, as if a bomb had exploded,” said Arun Tamu, 44, who was about 500 meters from the crash site and who broadcast a video live on the networks with the remains of the plane in calls.

The Nepalese aviation sector has grown a lot in recent years, both in the transport of goods and tourists.

However, due to lack of staff training and maintenance issues, businesses often suffer from security issues. The European Union has therefore banned all Nepalese carriers from entering its airspace.

The Himalayan country also boasts some of the most remote and difficult trails in the world, flanked by snow-capped peaks that make the approach challenging even for seasoned pilots.

Background

This Sunday is the deadliest accident in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed near Kathmandu.

In May 2022, the 22 people traveling on board a plane of the Nepalese company Tara Air – 16 Nepalese, four Indians and two Germans – died in the crash of the device.

In March 2018, 51 people died in the crash of a US-Bangla Airlines plane that crashed near the notoriously difficult Kathmandu International Airport.