KATHMANDU 15 JAN (Online): At least 40 people were killed on Sunday when a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, a Nepal aviation authority official said, in the small Himalayan country’s worst crash in nearly five years.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of rescue workers continued to scour the hillside site where the plane of domestic carrier Yeti Airlines, flying from the capital Kathmandu, went down.<\/p>\n
“Rescue operations are on,” said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal civil aviation authority. “Weather was clear.”<\/p>\n
Local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.<\/p>\n
The crash is Nepal’s deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.<\/p>\n
There were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti on Sunday, including two infants and four crew members, said airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula.<\/p>\n
The plane had five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian national onboard, a Nepal airport official said.<\/p>\n
The plane was 15 years old, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.<\/p>\n
The ATR72 is a widely used twin engine turboprop plane manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, according to its website.<\/p>\n
Air accidents are not uncommon in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, as the weather can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions.<\/p>\n
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency cabinet meeting after the plane crash, a government statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KATHMANDU 15 JAN (Online): At least 40 people were killed on Sunday when a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara in Nepal, a Nepal aviation authority official said, in the small Himalayan country’s worst crash in nearly five years. Hundreds of rescue workers continued to scour […]<\/p>\n
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