KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Scores of rescue staff and onlookers crowded close to a steep gorge exterior a resort city in central Nepal the place a regional passenger aircraft crashed Sunday, as rescuers combed the wreckage on the sting of the cliff and within the ravine beneath.
Up to now, 68 folks have been confirmed useless after a regional passenger aircraft with 72 aboard crashed right into a gorge whereas touchdown at a newly opened airport within the resort city of Pokhara, based on an announcement posted by the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority to Twitter. It’s the nation’s deadliest airplane accident in three a long time.
It was not instantly clear what brought on the accident.
A witness mentioned he noticed the plane spinning violently within the air after it started to aim a touchdown, watching from the terrace of his home. Gaurav Gurung mentioned the aircraft fell nose-first in direction of its left after which crashed into the gorge.
On the crash web site close to the Seti River, about 1.6 kilometers (practically a mile) away from Pokhara Worldwide Airport, rescuers sprayed hearth hoses and heaved ropes down to a different smoldering a part of the wreck beneath. Some our bodies, burned past recognition, have been carried by firefighters to hospitals, the place grief-stricken family members had assembled. At Kathmandu airport, relations appeared distraught as they have been escorted in and at instances alternate heated phrases with officers as they waited for data.
“The aircraft caught hearth after the crash. There was smoke all over the place,” Gurung mentioned.
The aviation authority mentioned the plane final made contact with the airport from close to Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. earlier than crashing.
The dual-engine ATR 72 plane, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airways, was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, a 27-minute flight. It was carrying 68 passengers together with 15 overseas nationals, in addition to 4 crew members, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority mentioned in a press release. The foreigners included 5 Indians, 4 Russians, two South Koreans, and one every from Eire, Australia, Argentina and France. No survivors have been discovered but.
Tek Bahadur Okay. C., a senior administrative officer within the Kaski district, mentioned he anticipated rescue staff to search out extra our bodies on the backside of the gorge.
Photos and movies shared on Twitter confirmed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash web site as rescue staff, Nepali troopers, and crowds of individuals gathered across the wreckage of the plane to search out survivors. The plane’s fuselage was cut up into a number of elements that have been scattered down the gorge.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, arrange a panel to research the accident.
”The incident was tragic. The complete power of the Nepali military, police has been deployed for rescue,” he mentioned.
South Korea’s Overseas Ministry mentioned in a press release that it’s nonetheless attempting to substantiate the destiny of two South Korean passengers and has despatched workers to the scene. The Russian Ambassador to Nepal, Alexei Novikov, confirmed the loss of life of 4 Russian residents who have been on board the aircraft.
The kind of aircraft concerned, the ATR 72, has been utilized by a number of airways all over the world for brief regional flights. Launched within the late Nineteen Eighties by a French and Italian partnership, the plane mannequin has been concerned in a number of lethal accidents through the years. In 2018, an ATR 72 operated by Iran’s Aseman Airways crashed in a foggy, mountainous area, killing all 65 aboard.
In Taiwan two earlier accidents involving ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircrafts occurred simply months aside.
In July 2014, a TransAsia ATR 72-500 flight crashed whereas attempting to land on the scenic Penghu archipelago between Taiwan and China, killing 48 folks onboard. An ATR 72-600 operated by the identical Taiwanese airline crashed shortly after takeoff in Taipei in February 2015 after one in all its engines failed and the second was shut down, apparently by mistake.
The 2015 crash, captured in dramatic footage that confirmed the aircraft hanging a taxi because it hurtled uncontrolled, killed 43, and prompted authorities to floor all Taiwanese-registered ATR 72s for a while. TransAsia ceased all flights in 2016 and later went out of enterprise.
ATR recognized the aircraft concerned in Sunday’s crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. In accordance with aircraft monitoring knowledge from flightradar24.com, the plane was 15 years outdated and “geared up with an outdated transponder with unreliable knowledge.” It was beforehand flown by India’s Kingfisher Airways and Thailand’s Nok Air earlier than Yeti took it over in 2019, based on data on Airfleets.web.
Yeti Airways has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, firm spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula mentioned.
Pokhara, situated 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a preferred mountaineering path within the Himalayas. Town’s new worldwide airport started operations solely two weeks in the past. It was constructed with Chinese language development and monetary help. The Chinese language ambassador to Nepal, Chen Tune, mentioned in a tweet he was “very shocked” to be taught of the accident.
“At this tough time, our ideas are with Nepali folks. I wish to specific my deep condolences to the victims, and honest sympathies to the bereaved households,” he wrote.
Sunday’s crash is Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 folks aboard a Pakistan Worldwide Airways aircraft have been killed when it plowed right into a hill because it tried to land in Kathmandu.
Nepal, dwelling to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, together with Mount Everest, has a historical past of air crashes. In accordance with the Flight Security Basis’s Aviation Security database, there have been 42 deadly aircraft crashes in Nepal since 1946.
Final 12 months, 22 folks died when a aircraft crashed on a mountainside in Nepal. In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu crashed after takeoff, killing all 23 folks aboard.
In 2012, an Agni Air aircraft flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed, killing 15 folks. Six folks survived. In 2014, a Nepal Airways aircraft flying from Pokhara to Jumla crashed, killing all 18 on board.
In 1992, all 167 folks aboard a Pakistan Worldwide Airways aircraft have been killed when it plowed right into a hill because it tried to land in Kathmandu.
The European Union has banned airways from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak security requirements. In 2017, the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group cited enhancements in Nepal’s aviation sector, however the EU continues to demand administrative reforms.
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Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Elise Morton in London, Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Adam Schreck in Bangkok contributed reporting.
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