At least 67 people were confirmed dead Sunday when a plane with 72 on board crashed in Nepal, police have said, in the Himalayan country’s deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.
“Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were still in the 300-metre gorge the aircraft plunged into.
This was partially confirmed by the army, with a spokesman saying 29 bodies had been retrieved and that there were 33 more at the site in Pokhara in central Nepal.
“The aircraft crashed into a gorge so it is difficult to bring the bodies Search and rescue is ongoing. No survivors have been found yet,” army spokesman Krishna Prasad Bhandari told AFP.
Yeti Airlines, which operated the flight, said there were 72 people onboard – 68 passengers and four crew. According to an airport official, there were 15 foreign nationals on board including one Australian, one French, one Argentinian, four Russians, five Indians, two South Koreans and one person from Ireland.
The ATR 72 aircraft had been travelling from the capital Kathmandu to the city of Pokhara in central Nepal, a popular gateway to the Himalayan mountains for religious pilgrims and international trekkers. The plane crashed on the banks of the Seti Gandaki river just minutes before it was due to land at the newly opened Pokhara international airport.
Footage shared on social media, which appeared to be shot just after the crash, showed the plane enveloped in raging flames on the ground as black smoke billowed into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.
Another clip shared online showed a plane flying at a low altitude over a residential area banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.
The wreckage was on fire and rescue workers were trying to put out the blaze, local official Gurudutta Dhakal said.
“Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire,” Dhakal said. “All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers.”
Nepal’s prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency meeting following the crash. The Nepal government has also formed a five-member commission of inquiry to probe the cause of the incident.
Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas, as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.
But it has also been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance. In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air died when it crashed and in March 2018, 51 people died when a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu.
The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.
The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.
Aircraft operators say Nepal lacks infrastructure for accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where deadly crashes have taken place in the past. The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.