At Least 69, Including 5 Indians, Killed in Nepal’s Worst Air Crash in 3 Decades | Top Points

At least 69 people including five Indians lost their lives after a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard crashed into a river gorge on Sunday while landing at the Pokhara airport.

Yeti Airlines’ 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). While landing at the Pokhara airport, the aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport.

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The crash was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside upon approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board, Reuters reported.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the tragedy. “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,” he wrote on Twitter.

Here’s all we know about the plane crash so far:

• The Nepal government announced a national mourning on Monday over the tragedy.
• The flight crashed 10 to 20 seconds before landing and there was no distress call from the cockpit before the disaster, airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said, as per Bloomberg.
• The Pokhara International Airport was inaugurated two weeks ago by Nepal’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and built with Chinese assistance. Built in the backdrop of the pristine Annapurna Mountain Range, the airport was officially inaugurated on January 1, 2023.
• The Yeti Airlines’ plane involved in the crash was a twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft and was 15 years old equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data, as per multiple reports. Manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo, the ATR 72 is a widely used twin-engine turboprop plane.
• The Yeti Airlines flight 9N-ANC ATR-72 was on its third sortie since Sunday morning. It first flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara and back to Kathmandu earlier in the day, Hindustan Times reported.
• The Nepal government has formed a five-member commission of inquiry to probe the Yeti Airlines plane crash.
• Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said weather was not a problem, preliminary information has been received that the plane crashed due to technical reasons. “Weather was not a problem, preliminary information has been received that the plane crashed due to technical reasons. Information has been received that flames were seen in the plane while it was still air-borne,” he said.
• Four of the five Indians killed in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday hailed from Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh. The four victims from Ghazipur district were identified as Sonu Jaiswal, Anil Rajbhar, Abhishek Kushwaha and Vishal Sharma.
• There were a total of 68 passengers including 10 foreigners and four crew members. Five Indians were among the total 15 foreign nationals onboard the plane. Other foreign nationals included – four Russians, two Koreans, and an Australian, an Irish, an Argentinian and a French.
• The plane took off from Kathmandu at 10:33 am. While 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.

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