Nepal air crash LIVE: Yeti Airlines has been flying for over 2 decades

Yeti Airlines, whose flight crashed earlier in the day, has been flying commercial aircraft for more than two decades now. It currently has a fleet of six ATR planes. Read more.

Nepal Aircraft crash: The search operation has been halted for today and bodies are yet to be retrieved: Army officials

Nepal’s Yeti airlines cancels regular flights for January 16, Reuters reported.

The Nepal government has instructed concerned authorities to conduct a technical inspection of all domestic flights after a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people on board, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened Pokhara airport on Sunday, killing at least 68 people. Read here

A passenger aircraft with 72 people onboard – including five Indians – crashed into a river gorge seconds before landing at Nepal’s Pokhara airport on Sunday, reportedly the deadliest plane crash in the Himalayan country in almost five years. More than 60 people have been killed in the crash. Read here

In the wake of the Yeti Airlines Flight ATR-72 crash the Nepal government declared a day of national mourning tomorrow. The government has also announced that a five-member committee will be formed to investigate the crash.

The Yeti Airlines flight with 72 people on board crashed in Nepal just seconds before it was due to land, the carrier informed. The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew, airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said, as per Bloomberg. At least three people have been taken to hospital but their condition is unclear, he added. There were also infants on board, earlier reports said.

At least 67 people are confirmed dead after a plane carrying 72 people crashed in Nepal on Sunday, police said.

“Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were found in the gorge where the aircraft crashed.

ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday’s crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data.” Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, company spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said.

Nepal Aircraft crash: Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s & Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane’s visit to Pokhara has been cancelled: Nepal Secretariat

The aviation authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.

Pokhara’s international airport, which opened on January 1 is meant to gradually replace the old one, established in 1958. The city in central Nepal is a gateway to religious pilgrims and international trekkers.

Here’s a look at major air disasters in recent years. Read here

Nepal government forms five-member commission of inquiry to probe Yeti Airlines plane crash.

The government of Nepal declares a one-day national mourning tomorrow in wake of the aircraft crash at Pokhara airport.

The death currently stands at 29, as per Nepal’s Civil Aviation authority.

Fifteen foreigners were among the 72 people on board a plane that crashed in Nepal on Sunday, Yeti Airlines said.

They included five people from India, four Russians, two Koreans, and one person each from Australia, Argentina, Ireland and France, spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said.

With Nepal witnessing yet another horrific plane crash, condolences poured from all over on the loss of lives. A passenger plane with 72 people on board – 68 passengers and four crew members – crashed near the Pokhara International Airport in Nepal. Five Indians were among the foreign nationals who were travelling on the plane, initial reports suggested. Visuals from the accident site surfaced on social media shortly after and showed plumes of smoke billowing from the plane as a huge crowd gathered amid rescue operations.

Twenty-nine people are confirmed to have been killed in a crash by a plane in Nepal that had 72 on board, but there were some survivors, an official said Sunday.

“We have recovered 29 bodies so far and (we) have also sent some survivors to the hospital for treatment,” Gurudatta Dhakal, assistant chief official in Kaski district, told AFP.

At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal – home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where the weather can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions. The European Union has banned Nepali airlines from its airspace since 2013, citing safety concerns.

“Half of the plane is on the hillside,” said Arun Tamu, a local resident, who told Reuters he reached the site minutes after the plane went down.” “The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river.”

Aircraft operators say Nepal lacks infrastructure for accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where deadly crashes have taken place in the past.

Nepal prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ reached the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. To look into the situation, PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday called an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following an aircraft crash in Pokhara. The Prime Minister directed Home Ministry, security personnel and all the government agencies to carry out immediate rescue and relief operations, Kathmandu Post reported.

Five Indians were among the total 15 foreign nationals onboard the plane, the paper reported. Other foreign nationals included – four Russians, two Koreans, and an Australian, an Irish, an Argentinian and a French.

The plane was piloted by captain Kamal K C and Assistant Captain Anju Khatiwada.

The aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport while landing at the Pokhara airport. There were a total of 68 passengers and four crew members. At least 32 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage site, local media reports have said. 

Five Indians were among the total 15 foreign nationals onboard the plane, Reuters reported. 

Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains.

The last major air accident in Nepal happened on May 29 when all 22 people onboard, including four members of an Indian family, were killed as a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district.

Nepal Plane Crash: Yeti Airlines plane had 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 1 Irish, 2 south Korean nationals onboard- Nepal airport official

Some 200 Nepalese soldiers are involved in the rescue at the crash site in the gorge of the Seti River, just one and a half kilometres from the airport, BBC reported. 

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.

Nepal prime minister left for Tribhuvan International Airport to understand the details of the accident of the plane flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara with 4 crew members and 68 passengers, including 10 foreigners, onboard.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia condoled the loss of lives in the plane crash in Nepal’s Pokhara on Sunday, in which 72 people were on board.

“The loss of lives in a tragic plane crash in Nepal is extremely unfortunate. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bereaved. Om Shanti,” tweeted Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The plane had 5 Indians, 4 Russian, 1 Irish and two South Korean nationals onboard when it crash, Nepal airport official said, as per news agency Reuters.

The plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.

The plane was 15 years old, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. 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, Reuters reported. 

It was the deadliest crash in Nepal since 1992, the Aviation Safety Network database showed, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside upon approach to Kathmandu.

The resort town of Pokhara is 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Kathmandu.

Nepal 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, Associated Press reported. 

Nepal prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency cabinet meeting following the plane crash, Reuters reported. 

According to Tek Bahadur KC, Chief District Officer of the Kaski district, the plane crashed into the Seti river gorge. Rescue operations are currently being conducted, he was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times newspaper.

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.

“We expect to recover more bodies,” Krishna Bhandari told Reuters. “The plane has broken into pieces.”

Nepal’s Yeti airlines spokesman said that of the 72 people onboard the plane, 10 were foreign nationals, as per news agency Reuters.

In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air — 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans — died when it crashed.

In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crash-landed near Kathmandu’s notoriously difficult international airport, killing 51 people.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 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.

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.

The wreckage was on fire and rescue workers were trying to put out the blaze, local official Gurudutta Dhakal told AFP.

“Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire. All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers,” Gurudutta Dhakal said.

State television reported some bodies had been recovered from the crash site in Nepal, Reuters reported. 

A 72-seater passenger aircraft crashed on the runway at Pokhara International Airport in Nepal, news agency ANI reported. The Yeti Airlines which flew to Pokhara from Kathmandu crashed in Pokhara of Kaski district, Kathmandu Post reported.