Nepal Plane Crash Death Toll Rises To 69
Over 69 persons out of 72 people onboard Yeti Arline that crashed on Sunday morning in Pokhara in Nepal have been found dead.
The figure increased when the search operations resumed on Monday and another body was recovered from the debris.
The black box and Cockpit voice recorder have been found, according to reports from Nepal.
Videos online showed rescue workers pulling out dead bodies wrapped with body bags from the hillside where the flight carrying 72 people from the capital Kathmandu went down.
Families and sympathizers of the aircraft victims have besieged a morgue at Pokhara town in Nepal, awaiting the release of their deceased loved ones.
Footages from the morgue showed large numbers of soldiers surrounded the mortuary.
The aircraft with 68 passengers and 4 crew members on board crashed with Nepal Civil aviation authority confirmed that 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 South Koreans and one national each of Ireland, Australia, Argentina, France were in the plane that crashed close to two airports.
The plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.
It was gathered that the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was flying from Kathmandu, the Himalayan country’s capital, an airport official said. country’s prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, called an emergency cabinet meeting.
The weather was clear, said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority.
The crash is considered Nepal’s deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.
At least 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal, – home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where the weather reportedly can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions.
The European Union has banned Nepali airlines from its airspace since 2013, citing safety concerns.
