After the plane of the regional airline Yeti Airlines fell near a residential area, it started to burn. A total of 72 people were on board, including four crew members, it said. According to the airline, 15 foreign nationals were on board, including passengers from India, Russia, Korea, Argentina, Ireland, France and Australia. The Nepalese government confirmed 68 fatalities on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, Nepalese media and the BBC released videos showing not only the crash site but also scenes immediately before the crash. One of them shows how the machine flies relatively low over a densely populated residential area, then takes a sharp turn and gets into a strong lateral position. The plane had come from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. It had started there at 10.30 a.m. (local time). It crashed around 11:00 a.m.
Speculations about pilot maneuvers
In the BBC, a resident spoke as an eyewitness. She ran to the crash site immediately after the accident, where there were already numerous people. Helicopters came in no time. According to a report by the Kathmandu Post, the crash site is between the city’s old airport and the new Pokhara International Airport.
The eyewitness quoted by the BBC suspected that the pilot had flown the atypical maneuver on purpose so that his machine would not crash into inhabited areas – which will remain speculation. The machine had stopped sending position data ten minutes before the accident, and the last signal came three minutes before the disaster.
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The plane involved in the accident is a type ATR 72 from the French-Italian manufacturer Avions de Transport Regional (ATR), a turboprop machine designed for regional transport with a maximum of 72 seats on board. Kathmandu-based Yeti Airlines operates several of the machines. What ultimately led to the accident is unclear. Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency government meeting.
Around 300 police and army forces were involved in the rescue and recovery operation after the accident. On Sunday evening (local time), work was stopped due to darkness. They are scheduled to continue on Monday to find the last four people still missing.
Starting point for hikers and mountaineers
The city of Pokhara is located about 200 kilometers northwest of Kathmandu in central Nepal and is the starting point for numerous trekking tours in the Himalayas, including the Annapurna Circuit. The Annapurna massif is a popular hiking and mountaineering region in the country.
There have been several plane crashes in the mountainous region. Last year, 22 people died in a crash on the Pokhara-Jomsom flight route. In 2008, a Yeti Airlines plane crashed on approach to the city of Lukla, killing 18 people.
Dead after plane crash in Nepal
A Yeti Airlines plane crashed in Nepal on Sunday. It is not yet clear how many people died. The aviation authority speaks of at least 44 dead among the 72 people on board.
The most serious air accident in Nepal occurred in 1992. At that time, 167 people died on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu Airport.
