The Yeti Airlines craft taken moments before crashing in central Nepal. Source: Diwas Bohora, @channeld4641
An estimated 68 or more people have died, including one Australian, after a Yeti Airlines plane crashed in Pokhara, Central Nepal. This is Nepal’s worst plane crash in 30 years.
A Nepalese aviation officer said the plane went down on Sunday.
Rescue workers searched the site long into the evening, before eventually having to call off the search and continue the following morning.
The flight had 72 passengers onboard, including 5 people from India, 4 from Russia, 2 from South Korea, and 1 from Australia. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has said it was aware there was an Australian passenger on board and has been searching urgently for information on that passenger’s welfare.
The Aviation Safety Network Database confirmed that this incident is Nepal’s worst aviation disaster since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines craft crashed on its way to Kathmandu, killing all 167 passengers.
The Yeti airlines plane tore into pieces when it hit the hillside, and local Nepalese television footage shows clouds of thick black smoke above the wreckage, where rescue workers gathered.
Nepal Army spokesperson Krishna Bhandari told Reuters, “We expect to recover more bodies… The plane has broken into pieces.”
Local resident Arun Tamu told Reuters that he reached the site just minutes after the plane crashed.
“Half of the plane is on the hillside,” Mr Tamu said. “The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti River.”
Another local resident, Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to help search the site when the plane went down, said thick smoke and fire made the rescue mission very difficult.
“I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him,” Tiwari said.
The Nepalese government has begun investigating the cause of the crash and expects to report within 45 days.
