At least 68 killed in Nepal plane crash, officials say
At least 68 people have been killed after a 72-seat passenger aircraft crashed in Pokhara, a resort town in central Nepal, authorities have confirmed. It's the country's deadliest airplane accident in three decades.
The Nepali passenger aircraft crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport.
At the crash site, rescuers used ropes to pull out bodies from the wreckage, parts of which were hanging over the edge of the gorge. Some bodies, burned beyond recognition, were carried by firefighters to hospitals, where grief-stricken relatives had assembled.
It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash.
A witness to the crash said he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began to attempt a landing, watching from the terrace of his house. Gaurav Gurung said the plane fell nose-first towards its left and then crashed into the gorge.
“The plane caught fire after the crash. There was smoke everywhere,” Gurung said.
The aviation authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10.50 am before crashing.
Nepal Civil Aviation Authority spokesman, Jagannath Niroula said the weather was clear.
The plane was carrying 68 passengers including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
A spokesman said the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs was aware of reports that an Irish citizen was among the passengers on board.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of reports of the involvement of an Irish citizen in an airplane crash in Nepal, and stands ready to provide consular assistance if requested,” it said.
Video shows smoke rising from site of plane crash
The resort town of Pokhara is 125 miles west of the capital, Kathmandu - and is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the plane was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara in central Nepal, and urged security personnel and the general public to help with the rescue efforts.
Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.
Plane crashes in Nepal are not uncommon - last year, 22 people died when a plane crashed on a mountainside in Nepal.
The crash is Nepal’s deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Airlines passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people aboard.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. According to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.
In 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
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