Highlights
- Seconds before landing at Pokhara airport, the plane crashed
- Crash happened 20 minutes after take-off
- Plane caught fire as it crashed
Nepal’s Yeti airline on Sunday crashed in Pokhara. As per the latest report, 68 people have been killed. There were 72 passengers on the aircraft, including 53 Nepali, 15 foreigners, and 4 crew members.
An ATR 72, 9N-ANC aircraft of Yeti Airlines took off for Pokhara from Kathmandu at 10:30am crashed at Nayagaun. The aircraft made the last contact with the Pokhara International Airport tower from Seti gorge at 10:50 this morning, according to Yeti Airlines.
There were 68 passengers and 4 crew members including 53 Nepalese, 5 Indian citizens, 4 Russians, 1 Irishman, 1 Australian, 1 Argentinean, 2 Koreans, and 1 French.
Just seconds before landing at the Pokhara airport around 11 am, the aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport.
The plane caught fire as it crashed, and images and videos posted on social media platforms showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site.
According to media sources, 68 bodies were recovered from the accident site. No one reportedly survived the crash. Search for the remaining four is underway.
Yeti Airlines has canceled all flights scheduled for tomorrow (Monday) after the ATR plane crash in Pokhara on Sunday.
Issuing a statement on Sunday evening, the airlines informed that all regular flights scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled.
According to the airlines, emergency and rescue flights will be conducted tomorrow.
The government has decided to give mourning leave tomorrow January 16.
According to government spokesman Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, the meeting of the Council of Ministers held today in Baluwatar decided to grant a mourning holiday for the human loss caused by the plane crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara.
“The cabinet expressed deep sorrow over the incident. It has been decided to mourn the tragic incident tomorrow January 16 and to give a public holiday for one day,” he said.
The meeting also decided to set up a call center at Tribhuvan International Airport to inform the family members about the incident.
An inquiry committee has also been formed to identify the cause of the accident.
The Pokhara International Airport, which witnessed the fatal crash of a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard on Sunday, was inaugurated two weeks ago.
(GNB can not verify the authenticity of the video posted on social media)
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