On a Monday in late May, the mountains of Mustang gave up the bodies of twenty-one people, the remains of a Tara Air Twin Otter that had vanished on a short hop between two places that live by travelers. Among those aboard were families from India, Germany, and Nepal, and the crew who had kept the route open for years. The wreckage, found on a slope at roughly 14,500 feet after a day of waiting for weather to lift, speaks to a country whose beauty and whose geography have long asked too much of the small planes that carry its people. A commission now sifts the cause, and one person still lies
Rescuers Recover 21 Bodies from Tara Air Crash Site in Nepal's Mustang District
21 of 22 people aboard were found dead, including four Indian nationals from Thane, two Germans and Nepali passengers and crew; one person remains missing.
One person was still unaccounted for on the mountain.
Mark
Why does this crash draw so much attention beyond the toll itself?
Mimi
Partly the route. Tara Air lost a plane on the same Pokhara-Jomsom run in 2016, with 23 dead, and another Pokhara-Jomsom flight crashed in 2012. Those precedents sit behind every line of this story.
Luke
Worth noting that the repeated route is a pattern in the record, not a finding about this crash. The cause is not established.
Mark
What do we know about the cause so far?
Mimi
The aviation authority's director-general said a preliminary investigation points to the plane turning right instead of left in bad weather, then hitting the mountains.
Luke
That is a preliminary statement relayed at a parliamentary meeting. The five-member commission hasn't reported, so I'd hold it loosely.
Mark
The accounts of the crash site differ a little, don't they?
Mimi
They do. A man who found the wreck said the bodies were intact and there was no fire. The airline spokesperson said the impact scattered bodies across 100 metres.
Luke
Those are two different sources describing the same scene, and the first is quoted secondhand through a newspaper. They aren't confirmed against each other.
Mark
And the missing person?
Mimi
Still not found as of the statement. Twenty-one bodies recovered out of 22 aboard, and teams are still searching.
Luke
Right, and that's all we can say. No identity for the missing person is given, and nothing about their condition.
Il Polso
- A Twin Otter carrying 22 people fell silent just twelve minutes after leaving Pokhara, and the sky over Mustang turned the search into a waiting game.
- Rescuers reached the crash site at Thasang-2 only after bad weather and failing light had halted the first attempt, and they carried 21 bodies down the mountain.
- A preliminary probe suggests the pilots turned right instead of left in storm conditions, and a five-member commission has been formed to find out why.
- Families from Thane are waiting in Kathmandu for identifications, while teams still comb the debris field for the single missing passenger.
- Nepal's long record of air disasters puts the aviation authority under fresh scrutiny, and the commission's findings will shape the answer.
On a Monday in late May, the mountains of Mustang gave up the bodies of twenty-one people, the remains of a Tara Air Twin Otter that had vanished on a short hop between two places that live by travelers. Among those aboard were families from India, Germany, and Nepal, and the crew who had kept the route open for years. The wreckage, found on a slope at roughly 14,500 feet after a day of waiting for weather to lift, speaks to a country whose beauty and whose geography have long asked too much of the small planes that carry its people. A commission now sifts the cause, and one person still lies unaccounted for in the high country.
On Monday, rescuers brought 21 bodies down from a mountainside in Mustang district, where a Tara Air Twin Otter had gone down after leaving Pokhara with 22 people aboard. The plane lost contact with air traffic control about twelve minutes after takeoff on Sunday morning. The search had been suspended that day because of bad weather and fading light, and wreckage was only confirmed the following morning at about 14,500 feet.
The passengers were a mix of tourists and locals on a route that links a busy tourist city to a popular town in the heart of Nepal. Four Indians, including a family from Thane near Mumbai, were on board, along with two Germans, Nepali passengers and a three-person crew. A local man who came upon the scene described the aircraft as completely destroyed, though the airline spoke of a plane that broke apart with bodies scattered across a wide area.
Of the recovered bodies, ten were flown to Kathmandu and eleven were taken to a base camp coordinating the rescue. Relatives of the Indian family gathered in Kathmandu to wait for identifications. Leaders in Kathmandu offered condolences, and the government has set up a five-member commission led by a senior aeronautical engineer to determine the cause. A preliminary finding points to the aircraft turning the wrong way in bad weather before striking the mountain.
For a country with eight of the world's fourteen highest peaks, this crash joins a long and painful history of air accidents on these same routes. Teams are still searching for the last missing person, and the commission's findings will be closely watched.
On Monday, rescuers brought 21 bodies down from the wreckage of a Tara Air plane that went into a mountainside in Nepal's Mustang district. The aircraft, a Twin Otter turboprop registered 9N-AET, had 22 people aboard when it left Pokhara on Sunday morning. One person was still unaccounted for, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
The flight was a short hop from Pokhara, a tourist city, to Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal. The Canadian-built plane carried four Indians, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers, plus a crew of three Nepalis. The authority said the plane took off at 9:55 am and lost contact with air traffic control at 10:07 am, about 12 minutes later.
The search was suspended on Sunday because of bad weather and failing light. The Nepal Army said pieces of the wreckage were found nearly 20 hours after the plane went missing. Army spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal tweeted a photograph of the wreckage and named the location as Sanosware, Thasang-2, in Mustang. The aviation authority put the altitude at 14,500 feet. It said a Fishtail Air helicopter, the 9N-AJR, was the first to land at the site and confirmed it at 8:10 am Monday. Teams from the Nepal Army, Air Dynasty, Kailash Helicopter and Fishtail Air Helicopter were deployed.
The myRepublica newspaper reported that Inda Singh, who was on his way to clear a blocked road, came across the wreck. He said the plane was completely destroyed and that all the passengers were dead. By his account the bodies were intact, the victims' faces recognisable, and there had been no fire. He thought the plane may have hit a nearby cliff. Tara Air spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula described a harsher scene: the plane slammed into the mountain and broke apart, with bodies scattered across a 100-metre radius from the main point of impact. A photo posted on social media showed the tail and one wing still intact.
Of the 21 bodies recovered, 10 were flown to Kathmandu and 11 were taken to the base camp from which the rescue is being coordinated. Bartaula said search teams were still combing the area for the remaining person.
The airline's passenger list named the four Indian passengers as Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathy), and their children Dhanush and Ritika. The family lived in Thane, near Mumbai. Their relatives were waiting in Kathmandu for the bodies to be identified. President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba offered condolences for the passengers and crew.
The government has formed a five-member commission of inquiry, headed by senior aeronautical engineer Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, to determine the cause. Early findings were offered by Pradeep Adhikari, the authority's director-general, at a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday. He said a preliminary investigation indicated the plane turned right rather than left because of inclement weather, and flew into the mountains.
Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains and has a long record of air accidents. In 2016, a Tara Air plane flying the same route crashed after takeoff and killed all 23 aboard. A Pokhara-to-Jomsom flight crashed near Jomsom airport on May 14, 2012, killing 15. A Sita Air flight crashed in September 2012 during an emergency landing at Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 19, and a US-Bangla crash at the same airport in March 2018 killed 51. Tara Air, which began operating in 2009 to help develop rural Nepal, describes itself as the newest and biggest airline serving the country's mountains.
What to watch now: the search for the last missing person, and the findings of the commission led by Suman.
Citazioni salienti
A preliminary investigation indicated the aircraft swerved right instead of left due to inclement weather and hit the mountains.— Pradeep Adhikari, Director-General, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
The impact blew the bodies all over the hill.— Sudarshan Bartaula, Tara Air spokesperson
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su Devdiscourse ↗
General News