4 Indians in Nepal plane crash: ‘Had 10 days together a year…were excited’

With bad weather and the remote, mountainous terrain of the crash site, the first search team is expected to reach the crash site only on Monday. But senior government officials in Kathmandu “are prepared for the worst”. The list of those feared dead also included two Germans, 13 Nepalis and three crew members.

“I met this Indian family when they came to Kathmandu on May 27. They were very excited and we had dinner together. Later, they went to Pashupatinath temple and attended the aarti. On May 28, they travelled from Kathmandu to Pokhara by road. On Sunday, their flight was to depart at 6 am from Pokhara to Jomsom but the takeoff got delayed due to bad weather,” said Sagar Acharya, their tour manager from Kailash Vision Trek, speaking to The Indian Express over phone from Kathmandu.

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Of the four, the two children — son Dhanush (24) and daughter Ritika (15) — lived with their mother Vaibhavi Bandekar (51) and maternal grandparents in Thane. The father, Ashok Kumar Tripathy (53), had moved back to his home state, Odisha. Bandekar worked for a private firm in Mumbai.

According to Senior Inspector Uttam Sonawane of Kapurbawdi police in Thane, Bandekar’s sister told him that the couple “were separated and as per court orders, the children had to spend 10 days with their father every year” — and that this time, “they were headed to Muktinath in Nepal”. The sister also told the police that the Indian embassy in Nepal was “in constant touch”.

When The Indian Express reached their Thane house, the sister said she did not wish to speak to the media. It turned out that Bandekar’s mother was seriously ill, and had not been informed of the crash.

“Around 9.45 am, two aircraft of Summit Air took off followed by Tara Air at 9.55 am. Before taking off, Ashok Tripathy had called me to say that things were okay. Those two flights of Summit Air landed safely and then we heard the news that Tara Air had lost contact with ATC,” Acharya, the travel agent in Kathmandu, said.

Another agent from the travel firm, Suman Dahal, said the family had booked the trip through an agency in Delhi.

Bandekar had moved to Thane three-four years ago with her parents and two children from their fourth-floor flat in the Chikoowadi locality of Mumbai’s Borivali, according to neighbours. They said the family had rented out the flat, which belongs to Bandarkar’s parents, at Bhushan Park View in Padma Nagar.

When The Indian Express visited the housing society on Sunday evening, it found that the tenants were away and the flat was locked. “The family hardly spoke to anybody. We did not see Vaibhavi much as she used to work till late. None of us saw her husband,” said a neighbour.

In Kathmandu, meanwhile, Acharya is waiting for word about his Indian clients. “They had left their excess baggage with me, it is lying in my room.”