Kathmandu: Nepalese authorities on Thursday recovered the black box of the aircraft that crashed here a day before and handed it over to a probe team formed to inquire into the tragic accident that killed 18 persons, including a child. A Pokhra-bound Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft of Saurya Airlines, carrying 19 people, crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport here on Wednesday, killing 18 people aboard, and seriously injuring the pilot. The deceased included two crew members, technical staff of the airline, and a family of three, including a four-year-old boy.
Hansa Raj Pandey, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the black box of the crashed aircraft has been recovered and handed over to a probe team for necessary action. The probe team is headed by Ratish Chandra Lal, former director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, and includes four other experts. The team has to submit its probe report along with recommendations within 45 days.
The dead bodies are in the process of identification after conducting a post mortem and they will be handed over to the family members by Friday, Pandey said.
The sole survivor
Meanwhile, Captain Manish Raj Shakya, the sole survivor of the Surya Airlines air crash, is undergoing treatment at the Kathmandu Medical College here and his condition is said to be still. "Though he is admitted to the ICU, he can speak," hospital sources said.
A local media report said Captain Shakya was saved after the cockpit of the aircraft was sheared off by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft went up in flames. The Saurya Airlines plane was flying to Pokhara for regular engine maintenance of the aircraft when the accident occurred.
Who was on the ill-fated plane?
The plane, carrying two crew members and 17 technicians, was going for regular maintenance to Nepal's new Pokhara airport, which opened in January and is equipped with aircraft maintenance hangars, they said. "Shortly after takeoff ... the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.
Eighteen of those on board were Nepali citizens while one engineer was from Yemen, Saurya said. "Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital," said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, the spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.
Television visuals showed firefighters trying to put out the blaze and thick black smoke rising into the sky. They also showed the plane flying a little above the runway and then tilting to its right before it crashed. Other visuals showed rescue workers rummaging through the charred remains of the plane, strewn in lush green fields, and bodies being carried to ambulances on stretchers as local residents looked on.
"The plane was scheduled to undergo maintenance for a month beginning Thursday ... It is unclear why it crashed," said Mukesh Khanal, marketing head of Saurya Airlines. Kathmandu airport was closed temporarily following the crash but reopened within hours, officials said.
(With inputs from agency)
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