Nepal Plane Crash Kills Dozens, Some Remain Missing
BY KRISHNA POKHAREL | UPDATED 1月 15, 2023 05:25 凌晨 EST
Yeti Airlines aircraft went down in a gorge near Pokhara International Airport
A plane carrying 72 people crashed into a river gorge in central Nepal on Sunday, killing at least 62, according to a spokesman for the Nepalese army.
The Yeti Airlines aircraft went down in the gorge of the Seti River about a mile away from Pokhara International Airport, according to Brig. Gen. Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the army spokesman. Photos and TV footage showed black plumes of smoke and fire at the site, with crowds swarming around the wreckage.
Gen. Bhandari said as of early Sunday afternoon the rescue team had retrieved the bodies of 62 passengers and was looking for others in the wreckage. There were 68 passengers and four crew members aboard.
“We are facing difficulties in the rescue operation because the plane has crashed into the river’s gorge,” Gen. Bhandari said, adding: “We don’t know the cause of the crash yet.”
Nepal’s civil aviation authority said the plane, with flight number YT-691, took off from the capital of Kathmandu at 10:32 a.m. local time for what is usually a 30-minute journey. The plane’s last communication with the Pokhara airport tower was at 10:50 a.m. from the Seti River gorge, and it crashed soon after.
Pokhara is a popular tourist destination, with many flocking to the lakeside city for hiking and yoga. The passenger list included 53 Nepalese, five Indians, four Russians and two South Koreans, the aviation authority said.
Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the plane was flying to Pokhara from the capital of Kathmandu, and urged rescue personnel and the public to help with rescue efforts. He called an emergency cabinet meeting in the aftermath of the crash.
Flightradar24, a flight-tracking site, said that the ATR 72-500 aircraft was 15 years old and equipped with an old transponder that had unreliable data. “We are downloading high resolution data and verifying the data quality,” the website said in a Twitter post.
Plane crashes in Nepal have occurred in recent years, with poor weather conditions sometimes being blamed. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest.
Last May, a Tara Air flight carrying 22 people crashed into the Himalayan mountains, killing all aboard. The plane, which had departed from Pokhara, went down after swerving due to inclement weather, government officials said.
In 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from the capital city of Bangladesh crash-landed and caught fire at Nepal’s Kathmandu Airport, killing 51 of the 71 people aboard. A government investigation blamed the crash on pilot error, saying that he was under severe emotional distress.