Mustang: Tara Airlines plane crash site in Nepals Mustang district. The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane had four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers besides a three-member Nepali crew.
Highlights
- All passengers who were onboard Tara Airplane that crashed Sunday are confirmed dead.
- The plane was carrying 13 Nepalese, four Indians, and two Germans.
- The bodies have been scattered over a 100-metre radius from the main impact point.
Nepal Tara airplane crash: All passengers, including four Indians, who were onboard Tara Airplane that crashed Sunday have been confirmed dead, the airline said in a passenger list released on Monday. The plane was carrying 13 Nepalese, four Indians, and two Germans.
The Canadian-built plane was flying from the city of Pokhara to Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal. The condition of the plane belonging to Tara Air that took off at 10:15 am from Pokhara, nearly 200 kilometers east of Kathmandu, is unknown till now, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said in a statement.
The image shows the area where the aircraft lost contact with the tower above Ghorepani on the Pokhara-Jomsom air route, aviation sources said.
The Indian nationals identified as Vaibhavi Banderkar, Ashok Kumar Tripathy, Dhanush Tripathy and Ritika Tripathy are believed to be from Pune. Likewise, seven members of a Nepalese family were also killed in the crash.
"I am sad to hear that all passengers onboard in the Tara Air are dead," Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba tweeted on Monday afternoon as he offered condolences to the families of the deceased.
As of Monday afternoon, 20 dead bodies have been retrieved from the crash site, according to Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Tara Air. The bodies have been scattered over a 100-metre radius from the main impact point.
The India Embassy in Kathmandu has already established contacts with family members of the departed indian nationals. Following the plane crash, Nepal's Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism formed a five-member probe committee on Monday to ascertain the reasons behind the mishap.
Nepal's Home Ministry said that once the dead bodies are brought to Kathmandu, they will be handed over to the families.
The missing plane was found 24 hours after it crashed in Mustang district.
State of the plane when found
Tweeting the photo of the missing plane that ended in a fatal accident on Sunday morning, Nepal Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal informed that the missing aircraft was found in Sanosware, Thasang-2, Mustang near Jomsom airport. As per the photo released by the army, the aircraft that was carrying 19 passengers and three crew members, wrecked into several pieces.
After bad weather hampered the search and rescue operation on Sunday, the army called off the mission and resumed the operation on Monday morning.
The search for Tara's plane began shortly after it lost contact on Sunday morning. But the plane could not be traced. It takes 20 minutes to reach Jomsom from Pokhara. But within 12 minutes of taking off, the aircraft lost contact.
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(with agencies inputs)
