Central Nepal’s Pokhara region witnessed it’s third deadliest plane crash in last three decades leaving 68 people dead

Tezpur, Assam: On 15th January 2022, Nepal’s Yeti Airline’s ATR 72-500 crashed near Central Nepal’s Pokhara region. Resulting in casualties of around 68 and a search for four people under process. According to government officials, this was one of the deadliest crashes in the last three decades. On Sunday, a video clip shared on social media captured the final seconds before the plane crashed. The video, which appears to have been shot from a Pokhara rooftop, shows the plane flying low over a busy area and tumbling before it vanishes. After the video, a loud explosion can be heard.

According to the Yeti Airlines spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula, out of 68 people, four were crew members, and 64 were passengers. Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority reported that out of those passengers, 37 were men, 25 were women, 3 were children, and 3 were infants.
As per the data retrieved from Aviation Safety Network, the incident was the third deadliest crash in the history of the Himalayan nation. The first two were the crashes involving aircraft run by Pakistan International Airlines and Thai Airways, which left 167 and 113 people dead which happened in July an September 1992.

Of the casualties, 53 passengers and all four crew members belonged from Nepal, whereas the rest belonged to 15 different nations: five were Indian, four were Russian, and two were Korean. The rest were individual citizens of Australia, Argentina, France and Ireland.

Around 18 minutes after departure, at around 10:50 a.m. local time, the aircraft lost contact with Pokhara Airport. Following that, it crashed into the neighboring Seti River Gorge. The Nepal Army and many police agencies have sent first responders to the crash scene to conduct a rescue effort, according to a statement from the civil aviation authorities.

A five-person committee has also been created to determine what caused the collision. According to Nepal’s deputy prime minister and government spokesperson Bishnu Paudel, the quintet must deliver a report to the government within 45 days.

Before Sunday’s tragedy in Nepal, 11 tragic events involving various ATR 72 types had been reported to the Aviation Safety Network. Twenty-two people were on board on Tara Air flight that crashed into a Himalayan mountain last May at the height of roughly 14,500 feet. According to the Aviation Safety Network database, that was the nation’s 19th plane disaster in the past ten years and its 10th deadly one.

An ATR 72-500, a twin-prop turbojet popular among low-cost carriers in the Asia-Pacific area, was the plane that crashed on Sunday. ATR airplanes usually have an excellent reputation. ATR is a joint venture between the European aerospace giants Airbus and Leonardo. They have, however, been in collisions previously. In February and July 2015, two ATR 72s flown by the now-defunct Taiwanese carrier TransAsia were fatally crashed. Taiwanese authorities temporarily grounded all ATR 72s registered on the island due to the second incident.

“Our first thoughts are with all the individuals affected by this,” the statement read. “ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.”, ATR said in a statement.

For further updates, stay tuned.

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