Fourteen bodies were found in the wreckage of a plane that crashed on Sunday with 22 people on board on the side of a mountain in Nepal, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered so far, the search for more continues. The weather was very bad, but we were able to bring a team to the crash site. No further flights are possiblea civil aviation spokesman told AFP a day after the accident.
The aircraft was carrying 19 passengers, including two Germans, four Indians and ten Nepalese, as well as three crew.
According to Pradeep Gauchan, a local official, the wreckage was between 3,800 and 4,000 meters above sea level.
It was very difficult to get there on foot. A team was dropped off near the area using a helicopter, but the weather is cloudy right now, so flights are not possible.Gauchan told AFP.
Helicopters are on stand-by waiting for the clouds to disappearHe added.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed that the aircraft has naaksidente at 4,420 meters in the Sanosware area of Thasang Rural Municipality in Mustang District. He did not give details of the reason.
The twin-engine Twin Otter flew at 9:55 am local time from the city of Pokhara (central western Nepal), the country’s second largest city, 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu, before losing radio contact. . He was on his way to Jomsom, a popular hiking area in the Himalayas, a 20 -minute flight from Pokhara.
According to the website ofAviation Safety Networkthe plane was made by the Canadian company De Havilland and made its first flight more than 40 years ago, in 1979.
Search operations resumed Monday morning after being delayed Sunday night.
Dev Raj Subedi, spokesman for Pokhara Airport, said the search was tracking GPS, mobile and satellite signals at the crash site.
Tara Air is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlinesa private inland company serving many remote areas of Nepal.
Nepalese aviation has flourished in recent years, transporting tourists, walkers and mountaineers, as well as freighters, to remote areas and difficult to reach by road.
There are many air accidents
Nepal, a poor country in the Himalayas, has a dismal aviation safety record due to inadequate pilot training and retention.
The European Union has banned all Nepalese airlines from accessing its airspace for security.
The country also has some of the most dangerous tracks in the world, located in the middle of snow-capped peaks.
In March 2018, a plane from a Bangladeshi company US-Bangla Airlines crashed near Kathmandu airport, killing 51.
The following year, three people died when a plane failed to fly and hit two helicopters.
The accident took place at Lukla airport, gateway to Everest, which has a reputation as one of the airports in the world where it is the most complicated to land and fly.
The deadliest accident began in 1992: 167 people died on a flight from Pakistan International Airlines near Kathmandu airport.
Two months before, a camera Thai Airways crashed in the same area, killing 113 people.
In May, Nepal’s second international airport opened in Bhairahawa, allowing pilgrims from all over Asia to travel to the Buddha’s birthplace in nearby Lumbini.
This project, valued at 76 million dollars, should make it possible to offload Kathmandu’s international airport.
Source: Radio-Canada
