Nepal Plane Crash Updates: Search Ops Halted for the Day, Bodies Yet to be Retrieved, Say Army Officials as Death Toll Reaches 69

Vikas Basyal of Seti Khonch in Pokhara was basking in the sun outside his house around 10.30 am on Sunday. He noticed an aircraft of Yeti Airlines flying above him and suddenly heard a loud thud. READ MORE

Four Indians who died in the Nepal plane crash are from Ghazipur, official told ANI. “The are Vishal Sharma, Sonu Jaiswal, Anil Rajbhar and Abhishek Kushwaha. Efforts are underway to provide all possible help to their families,” CO Ghazipur Balaram said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the death of passengers killed in the plane crash in Nepal. “My condolences to all the families who lost their loved ones in this tragic accident,” he wrote on Twitter.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath says officials instructed to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs to make arrangements to bring the mortal remains of residents killed in the Nepal plane crash to the state.

Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site near the Seti River in Nepal to help search search for bodies, said the rescue efforts were hampered due to thick smoke and raging fire, reported the Himalayan Times. “The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage. I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him,” he recalled.

While Yeti Airlines stated that 69 passengers on board its 9N-ANC, ATR-72 500 aircraft which flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara, were killed when it crashed while landing at the Pokhara International Airport, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that 68 people were killed in the incident, according to The Himalayan Times.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the death of passengers, including Indian nationals, killed in the plane crash in Nepal earlier in the day.

Nepal Army will continue the search and rescue operation from tomorrow morning, an official told ANI as the death toll in the plane crash in Pokhran rose to 69. “The search operation has been called off for the evening owing to the darkness,” the official said.

The treacherous terrain on the banks of the Seti River hampered the initial rescue efforts by local villagers who rushed to save the 72 passengers on the crashed Nepalese passenger plane, an eyewitness said on Sunday. READ MORE

“I was walking when I heard a loud blast like a bomb went off,” said witness Arun Tamu, who was around 500 metres (yards) away and who posted live video of the blazing wreckage on social media shortly after a Yeti Airlines passenger plane crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, killing at least 69 passengers onboard. “A few of us rushed to see if we can rescue anybody. I saw at least two women were breathing. The fire was getting very intense and it made it difficult for us to approach closer,” the 44-yer-old former soldier told AFP.

The death toll in the plane crash in Nepal rose to 69 according to the latest figures by Yeti Airlines. In a statement, Yeti Airlines said: We would like to inform you that the aircraft 9N-ANC, ATR-72 500 of Yeti Airlines, which flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara at 10:32 on the morning of January 15, 2023,crashed while landing at Pokhara International Airport. There were 72 passengers including 4 crew members in the aircraft. Among them are 53 Nepalese, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentine, 1 Australian, 1 Irish and 1 French citizen. So far, 69 people have been confirmed dead in the accident. We would like to inform you that the rescue operation of the remaining 3 persons is ongoing.

The search operation has been halted for today and bodies are yet to be retrieved, Army officials told ANI.

Following the crash of the ATR-72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines in which 68 passengers were killed while landing at the Pokhara International Airport in Nepal, AIR said its specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.

The Pokhara International Airport has been closed for today for all incoming and outgoing flights following the Yeti Airlines aircraft crash that killed at least 68 passengers on board, including five Indians, the Himalayan Times reported.

Deepak Sahi, an eye-witness to the plane crash in Nepal’s Pokhara that left 68 people dead, said: “We heard a loud sound and came rushing to the spot (where the plane crash happened). There we could spot a few injured people and dead bodies in the debris.” Another witness said, “We were in our houses when we heard a loud sound and saw a huge cloud of smoke (at the spot where a plane crashed). We rushed to the spot with our friends and made efforts to save the injured people.”

Yeti Airlines announces the cancellation of all regular flights for January 16.

Mountainous Nepal, where at least 68 people were killed on Sunday when a plane crashed in the tourist town of Pokhara, has a history of deadly air crashes. READ MORE

The Nepal government announced a public holiday on Monday to mourn the fatal crash of the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 in Pokhara in which at least 68 people were killed, the Himalayan Times reported. Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson Bishnu Poudel made the announcement after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal chaired an emergency cabinet meeting regarding the plane crash.

Was Nepal’s Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA), where a passenger plane with 72 people onboard crashed on Sunday, inaugurated on January 1 without completing the work? Was the construction by China’s CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation not good enough? These and many such questions are being asked as details of the crash-landing emerge, according to local sources. READ MORE

A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the Yeti Airlines aircraft that crashed between the old airport and the Pokhara International Airport, Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Yeti Airlines, told the Kathmandu Post. Among the passengers are three infants, three children and 62 adults. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the passengers included 53 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, one Australian, one Argentinian, two Koreans and one French, it said.