• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, January 26, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
01/16/23
in World
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

At least 67 people were confirmed dead Sunday after a plane with 72 on board crashed in Nepal, police said, in the Himalayan country’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.

Six children were among those on board the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft when it plummeted into a steep gorge, smashed into pieces and burst into flames in the central city of Pokhara, officials said.

As light faded late Sunday and soldiers used ropes and stretchers to extract bodies from the 300-meter-deep (1,000-foot) ravine, there was no word on the fate of the five people still unaccounted for.

“We are actively working to retrieve and identify the bodies as soon as possible and hand (them) over to their families,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP at the crash site, which was still smoldering and strewn with aircraft debris, including the mangled remains of wings and passenger seats.

A local official had earlier said that “some survivors” had been taken to hospital, but this was not confirmed by the aircraft’s operator Yeti Airlines or other officials.

Yeti spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told AFP that 15 foreigners were on board, including five Indians, four Russians, and two South Koreans, with one passenger each from Argentina, Australia, France, and Ireland. The rest were Nepalis.

‘Like a Bomb’

The flight from Kathmandu slammed into the gorge between Pokhara’s domestic and brand new international airport on Sunday, shortly before 11:00 am (0515 GMT).

An unverified clip shared on social media purportedly showed the plane flying low over a residential area before banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.

Dozens of people have died after a plane crash in Nepal.

Here, Sky News speaks to an aviation expert about what may have caused the incident.

Latest: https://t.co/zGr1oPlGD9 pic.twitter.com/QtZHGaOijn

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 15, 2023

Indian media reported that some passengers from India were filming a Facebook Live as the plane crashed, with unverified footage showing the camera panning from the windows to the interior of the flight — and then flames.

“I was walking when I heard a loud blast like a bomb went off,” said witness Arun Tamu, 44, who was around 500 meters (yards) away and who posted live video of the blazing wreckage on social media.

“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 former soldier told AFP.

It was unclear if anyone on the ground was injured.

Rescue workers rushed to the debris-littered site, trying to put out raging fires that were sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

Poor Record

Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas, as well as ferrying foreign mountain climbers. 

But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance. 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 for even accomplished pilots.

The weather is also notoriously capricious and hard to forecast, particularly in the mountains, where thick fog can suddenly obscure whole mountains from view.

Last May, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air — 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans — died when it crashed.

Air traffic control lost contact with that twin-propeller Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.

Its wreckage was found a day later, strewn across a mountainside at around 4,400 meters (14,500 feet) above sea level.

After that crash, authorities tightened regulations, with planes cleared to fly only when favorable weather is forecast throughout the route.

Nepal’s deadliest aviation accident was in 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu.

Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Stock market crash, OCtober 2018.
World

‘Domino Effect’ Hits Stocks as Global Markets Suffer Losses

by Staff Writer
October 11, 2018
Christine Lagarde
National

Lessons Not Learned: US Financial System Still at Risk 10 Years After Crash

by Bryan Bowman
September 12, 2018
Girl on a Hilltop girls' education Afghan girls
Featured

Third of Girls in South Asia Miss School During Periods

by Staff Writer
May 22, 2018
Next Post
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post