On a Sunday that was meant to end in an ordinary landing, a twin-engine ATR 72 carrying 72 people from Kathmandu fell out of the sky minutes short of Pokhara. By Monday, most of those aboard had been recovered, but the count was still incomplete, and Nepal was already calling it the worst air disaster the country had seen in thirty years. Among the dead were five Indian nationals, whose families were making their way across the border to see what remained of them. The cause is still held in the black boxes now in the hands of the aviation authorities, and until those recorders are read, the st
Nepal Plane Crash: 70 Bodies Recovered From Pokhara Site as Search Operations Pause
Seventy people died and two remained unaccounted for after the ATR 72 crash, including five Indian nationals whose relatives travelled to Nepal to identify the bodies.
On a Sunday that was meant to end in an ordinary landing, a twin-engine ATR 72 carrying 72 people from Kathmandu fell out of the sky minutes short of Pokhara. By Monday, most of those aboard had been recovered, but the count was still incomplete, and Nepal was already calling it the worst air disaster the country had seen in thirty years. Among the dead were five Indian nationals, whose families were making their way across the border to see what remained of them. The cause is still held in the black boxes now in the hands of the aviation authorities, and until those recorders are read, the story is one of loss waiting for an answer.
By Monday, the second day after the crash, Nepal Police reported that 70 of the 72 people aboard the Yeti Airlines plane had been recovered. Two were still missing. Officials were already describing it as the deadliest air disaster the country had seen in thirty years.
The aircraft was a twin-engine ATR 72 that had flown from Kathmandu and came down in Pokhara on Sunday, just minutes before it was due to land. The manifest listed 68 passengers, including five Indians, plus four crew. One passage in the reporting gives a lower body count of 68, which the other figures do not match, so the numbers are still being sorted.
Identification began quickly. Anil Kumar Shahi, Assistant Chief District Officer of Kaski, said identified passengers were being sent for post-mortem examination and would then go to local families, while crew, foreigners and the unidentified would be taken to Kathmandu that evening.
For the Indian families, Monday meant travel. Relatives of the five dead Indians were heading toward Nepal to identify the bodies, and the government was arranging transport to the border for one family, accompanied by a police officer and a retired official.
The investigation took its first formal step when the Nepal Army handed the black box and flight data recorder to the Civil Aviation Authority. Nothing yet explains why the plane fell short of the runway. Yeti Airlines cancelled all regular flights for the day in mourning.
The work ahead has two parts: reading the recorders to learn what went wrong, and finding the two people still unaccounted for while naming those yet to be identified.
By Monday, the second day after a Yeti Airlines plane went down at Pokhara, Nepal Police reported that 70 of the 72 people aboard had been recovered. Two remained unaccounted for. Officials describe the crash as the deadliest air disaster Nepal has seen in the past 30 years.
The aircraft was a twin-engine ATR 72 flying from Kathmandu. It came down in Pokhara on Sunday, minutes before it was due to touch down. The reports carry an internal discrepancy: one passage in the source says 68 bodies had been recovered, while the headline figure is 70. The manifest is described as 68 passengers, including five Indians, plus four crew members, which accounts for the total of 72.
The work of identification began quickly. Anil Kumar Shahi, Assistant Chief District Officer of Kaski, told ANI that the bodies of passengers whose identities had been established were being sent for post-mortem examination, and that a group of experts had arrived at the site. Those bodies, he said, would be handed over to families locally. The bodies of crew members, foreigners and anyone not yet identified were to be sent to Kathmandu that evening.
For the families of the Indian victims, Monday meant travel. Relatives of the five Indians who died were sent toward Nepal to identify the bodies. The father of Anil Kumar Rajbhar, one of the victims, told ANI that the government was arranging to take the family to the Nepal border. A police officer and a retired official were going with them.
The investigation also took its first formal step. The Nepal Army handed the aircraft's black box to officials of the Civil Aviation Authority on Monday. The army also handed over the flight data recorder after the crash. Nothing in the reporting yet says what caused the aircraft to go down.
Yeti Airlines responded with a statement on Twitter. In mourning for the passengers who died in the accident involving its ATR 72-500, the airline said, all regular flights for January 16, 2023 were cancelled.
What comes next is in two parts. The recorders now with aviation authorities are the starting point for determining why the plane fell short of the runway at Pokhara. And the search and identification work continues, with two people still unaccounted for and some of the dead still to be named.
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