68 killed in Nepal air crash: What happened?

“We haven’t rescued anyone alive from the crash site,” said Nepal Army Spokesperson Krishna Prasad Bhandari.

#WATCH | A passenger aircraft crashed at Pokhara International Airport in Nepal today. 68 passengers and four crew members were onboard at the time of crash. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/DBDbTtTxNc

— ANI (@ANI) January 15, 2023

What aircraft was it?

According to reports, the crashed airplane was 15 years old, twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines.

The ATR 72 is a widely used twin-engine turboprop plane manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR 72-500 planes, according to its website.

How did the plane crash?

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal told the media that the plane was flying from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara in central Nepal.

Although details on why the crash happened aren’t out yet, a spokesperson of Yeti Airlines told Reuters that the plane “has broken into pieces”. Images and videos on Twitter showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site.

The weather in Pokhara has been mostly sunny on Sunday mornings. The prime minister has called an emergency cabinet meeting following the plane crash. Later in the day, finance minister Bishnu Paudel told reporters that the government has set up a panel to investigate the cause of the crash, and it is expected to report so within 45 days.

Were there any Indians on board?

Reuters quoted a Nepal airport official as saying the plane had five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian national on board.

Pokhara is a popular tourist destination for many Indians.