Pokhara: Rescue operation underway after a Yeti Airlines' passenger plane with 72 people onboard crashed into a gorge while landing at the Pokhara airport, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. At least 32 people lost their lives in the incident, according to officials. (PTI Photo)Nepal plane crash Highlights: At least 68 people were confirmed dead after a Yeti Airlines ATR 72 aircraft carrying 72 on board – including five Indians – crashed in Nepal’s Pokhara at around 11 am on Sunday, Reuters reported. Reports said the aircraft, with 68 passengers and four crew on board, crashed a few kilometres from its destination about 20 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu for Pokhara. Rescue operations were on as visuals on social media showed smoke billowing from the crash site.
According to a Yeti Airlines official, the five Indians have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal, PTI reported. The condition of the Indian passengers is unknown. Meanwhile, the Nepal government formed a five-member commission of inquiry to probe the Yeti Airlines plane crash. The announcement came as Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ called an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following the crash. It has also declared a one-day national mourning on Monday in wake of the aircraft crash, ANI reported.
A Nepal Army spokesperson said that they expect to recover more bodies, and the plane had broken into pieces. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) stated that the aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River near the airport in Pokhara.
Four of the five Indians killed in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday hailed from Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh, officials said. Ghazipur District Magistrate Aryaka Akhauri told PTI over phone that the administration has reach out to the affected families. "Our sub-divisional magistrate and other officials are meeting them. We are also in touch with the embassy.... We will do the needful after the recovery of bodies," she said.
At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal's resort city of Pokhara on Sunday. The four victims from Ghazipur district were identified as Sonu Jaiswal, Anil Rajbhar, Abhishek Kushwaha and Vishal Sharma. Sharma belonged to Alawalpur Chatti village in the Badesar area of the district, Jaiswal had houses in Chak Jainab and Alawalpur Chatti but was currently living in Sarnath, a police spokesperson said. (PTI)
Nepal's Yeti Airlines took to the skies with its first commercial flight more than two decades ago and currently has a fleet of six ATR planes. At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal's resort city of Pokhara on Sunday, officials said.
The airline, which connects different destinations in Nepal, operates only ATR 72-500s. Each 70-seater aircraft is a twin-engine turboprop powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127 engines and are equipped with Hamilton Sundstrand composite blade propellers, according to its website. The carrier, which has cancelled all regular flights for January 16 in the wake of the accident, started its first commercial flight in September 1998 with a single Canadian built DHC6-300 Twin Otter aircraft. (PTI)
Reacting to the death of 68 people after a plane crashed in Nepal's Pokhara, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that she was "extremely distressed" by the news. In a tweet, Banerjee said, "I extend my condolences to the families of the deceased & wish speedy recovery for those injured, including the five passengers from India".
After 68 people died in a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed his condolences and said "our thoughts are with the affected families".
In a tweet, Jaishankar said, "Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families".
After 68 people died in a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed his condolences and said "our thoughts are with the affected families".
In a tweet, Jaishankar said, "Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families".
At least five among the 72 people who died in the Yeti Airlines crash in Pokhara were Indians. The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew members when it crashed a few kilometres from its destination about 20 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu for Pokhara.
Besides Indians, there were other foreign nationals — four Russians, two Koreans, and one Argentinian, Australian, Irish and French — traveling to Pokhara, Nepal’s biggest tourist attraction. The rest of the 53 were Nepalis. Read more
After at least 68 people died in a Yeti Airlines plane crash near Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday, Shankar P Sharma, Nepal Ambassador to India told ANI, "This is very unfortunate we have already expressed our condolences. There were 5 Indians on the aircraft as per the press release shared by the airlines but details are yet to arrive".
The death toll of the plane which crashed near Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday rose to 68, a Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal told Reuters
The Pokhara International Airport, which witnessed the fatal crash of a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard on Sunday, was inaugurated two weeks ago by Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and built with Chinese assistance, PTI reported. Built in the backdrop of the pristine Annapurna Mountain Range, the airport was officially inaugurated on January 1, 2023. The flagship project was part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation.
The death toll of the plane which crashed near Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday has risen to 64, a police official told Reuters
At least 44 people were killed on Sunday when a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, an aviation authority official said, Reuters reported. Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring the hillside where the Yeti Airlines flight, carrying 72 people from the capital Kathmandu, went down. The weather was clear, said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority.
"Thirty bodies have been recovered and sent to hospital," Niroula told Reuters. "Another 14 bodies are still lying at the crash site and authorities are bringing in a crane to move them."
The government of Nepal has declared a one-day national mourning on Monday, in wake of the aircraft crash at Pokhara airport, which has killed at least 40 persons, news agency ANI reported.
The Nepal government on Sunday formed a five-member commission of inquiry to probe the Yeti Airlines plane crash, which has left at least 40 dead, news agency PTI reported.
At least 40 people died on Sunday (January 15) after a Yeti Airlines aircraft crashed near Pokhara International Airport in Nepal, according to Associated Press. There were 72 people on board, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals, the report said. Hundreds of rescue workers are at the site of the crash as they expect to recover more bodies, a Reuters report said. Read our explainer here
The five Indians on board the plane that crashed in Pokhara on Sunday are Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal, a Yeti Airlines official said.
The Indian Embassy also confirmed that five Indians were among the 68 passengers. "An ATR-72 plane of Yeti Airlines crashed today near the Pokhara Airport while flying from Kathmandu. According to the info provided by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, 5 Indians were travelling on this flight. Rescue operations are underway," the Indian mission tweeted.
There were ten foreigners on board the aircraft. Some of the passengers have been hospitalised, the airlines said. The condition of the Indian passengers is not known yet.
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.
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. Read more
According to the Aviation Safety database, there have been at least 27 fatal plane crashes in Nepal over the past 30 years.
May 2022: A Tara Airplane with 22 people on board, including four Indians from Thane, crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district on May 29, Sunday.
February 2019: An Air Dynasty helicopter crashed into a hill as it was attempting to find its way back into Kathmandu in cloudy weather. Nepal’s Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari was among the seven passengers who died in the incident. Read more
"The loss of lives in a tragic plane crash in Nepal is extremely unfortunate. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bereaved," Jyotiraditya M Scindia said.
According to news agency Reuters, the Pokhara crash is Nepal's deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am and crash-landed at the airport in Pokhara -- a major tourist destination in Nepal. The aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport, PTI reported.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Sunday instructed security personnel and all government agencies to carry out effective rescue operations after a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard crashed near the Pokhara airport.
The prime minister held an emergency meeting of the Cabinet as soon as a Yeti Airline ATR-72 aircraft crashed while landing near the Pokhara airport. He instructed the Ministry of Home Affairs, security personnel, and all government agencies to carry out effective rescue operations in the tragic accident, My Republica newspaper reported. (PTI)
While Nepal has a history of plane crashes due to the rugged mountain terrains and unpredictable weather conditions, a Nepal civil aviation authority spokesperson told Reuters that the "weather was clear" when a Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara.
He added that rescue operations were on.
At least 40 bodies have been recovered from the site, where an aircraft of domestic carrier Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, a Nepal aviation authority official told Reuters.
The Yeti Airlines plane, which crashed in Nepal’s Pokhara Sunday, was carrying five Indians, an official of Nepal Airport told Reuters.
It was also carrying four Russians, one Irish and two South Korean nationals.
Nepal has had a long and unfortunate history of plane crashes in the country. According to the Aviation Safety database, there have been 27 fatal plane crashes in Nepal over the past 30 years. Of these, more than 20 have taken place in the last decade.
The rugged mountainous terrain, dearth of investment in new planes and infrastructure and poor regulation have contributed to these crashes. Further, the airstrips are located in mountainous areas, amid weather conditions that are known for their sudden turns. Read more
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency Cabinet meeting in the wake of the tragedy, Reuters reported. The Prime Minister has urged security personnel and the general public to help with the rescue efforts, Associated Press reported.
Visuals from the site showed billowing thick black smoke, while rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.
An ATR 72 aircraft belonging to Yeti Airlines carrying 72 people, including four crew members, crashed in Nepal’s Pokhara at 11 am on Sunday. News agency Reuters quoted a Nepal Army spokesperson as saying that at least 16 people have died in the crash.
According to preliminary reports, the aircraft, with 68 passengers onboard, crashed about 20 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu for Pokhara, a few kilometres away from the destination. Yubaraj Ghimire reports from Kathmandu