Nepal Aircraft Crash: No one has been rescued alive from the crash site where a Nepal plane met one of the worst aircraft crashes in history.
According to ANI, Nepal army spokesperson Krishna Prasad Bhandari said, “We haven’t rescued anyone alive from the crash site.”
The agency further reported that the search operation will resume on Monday morning.
As for the latest, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following Sunday's aircraft crash in Pokhara.
Apart from the meeting, Dahal directed the country's home ministry, security personnel and all the government agencies to carry out immediate rescue and relief operations, ANI reported citing The Kathmandu Post newspaper.
At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people on board crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly opened airport in the city of Pokhara.
"So far, dead bodies of 68 people have been recovered from the crash site,” an official at the Search and Rescue Coordination Committee of the CAAN told PTI.
The crash occurred after a twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 plane crashed en route from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu to Pokhara. The Nepalese authorities have tasked a special commission with investigating the causes of the crash. A report is expected in 45 days, reported ANI.
Bodies of those who died have been retrieved and taken to Gandaki Hospital for postmortem, a PTI report mentioned citing an official from the district administration office, Kaski, said. It further said that most of the bodies were burnt so much so that they are beyond identification.
On board were fifteen foreigners, including six children. The airlines said in a statement that the plane contained 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentinian, and one each from Ireland, Australia, and France.
All five Indians belonged to Uttar Pradesh and were identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Bishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal. Four of them had just arrived in Kathmandu from India on Friday.
The Indian embassy is in touch with local authorities and is monitoring the situation, the mission said, reported PTI.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 claimed that the Yeti Airlines aircraft was 15 years old and equipped with an 'old transponder with unreliable data'.
Expressing grief over the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Pained by the tragic air crash in Nepal in which precious lives have been lost, including Indian nationals. In this hour of grief, my thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families."
In a statement issued earlier on Sunday, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said, "Nepali Army, Police Force, Airport Rescue, and Fire Fighting and Nepal Police will be informed about the rescue operation. Total number 72 including crew female 25 male 30, standard, white. So far, the death toll is 68," ANI cited the statement.