Status: 05/30/2022 11:40 a.m
According to the authorities, 20 bodies have now been recovered after the plane crash in Nepal. The army released footage from the crash site in the mountains. Two German passengers were among the 22 occupants on board.
After a passenger plane crashed in Nepal, the search team found the crashed plane in the mountains – in the foothills of the Himalayas in the Mustang district. Military footage shows debris scattered on a mountainside. One clearly shows the aircraft registration number 9N-AET.
In the meantime, 20 bodies have been recovered, said a spokesman for the civil aviation authority. The work is difficult due to bad weather. An employee of the rescue team on site at around 4000 meters told the dpa that the chance of finding survivors was very small.
Army spokesman Narayan Silwal said reinforcements were on their way to the crash site to look for the other missing persons. He posted a photo of the crash site taken by the search team on Twitter.
Two Germans on board
Radio contact with the machine was lost yesterday shortly after it took off from the western city of Pokhara. According to the passenger list, on board the Twin Otter aircraft were ARD Studio South Asia 22 people: the crew of three, 13 Nepalese, four Indians and two Germans.
This became the ARD confirmed by the German Embassy in Kathmandu. According to information from ARD Studios South Asia the two German inmates are a man and a woman from Hesse.
Plane missing with 22 people in Nepal
Peter Hornung, ARD New Delhi, tagesschau24 11:00 a.m., May 29, 2022
The Tara Air plane was on its way to Jomsom, a popular starting point for mountain trekking in the Himalayas, just 20 minutes from Nepal’s second largest city, Pokhara. Pilgrims from India and Nepal also visit the Muktinath Temple in the area.
However, the flight routes are often difficult. Pilots must fly the route between the mountains before landing in a valley. The Himalayan state is home to some of the most remote and difficult airstrips. According to the flight controller, the machine was at the time over the village of Ghorepani, which is a good 2870 meters above sea level.
Disaster already on the route in 2016
In 2016, a “Twin Otter” of the same airline crashed on the route from Pokhara to Jomsom. The investigative report on this accident warned, among other things, that pilots are only allowed to fly when there is a clear view. You are not allowed to fly in rain, haze or heavy cloud cover. At that time, the pilots had lost their orientation in the clouds and had flown into a mountain.
It had rained in the area in the past few days, but air traffic was normal.
Inadequate training – poor maintenance
Aviation in Nepal has been booming for years. However, safety standards are low due to insufficient staff training and poor maintenance of machines. The European Union has not allowed any Nepalese airline into its airspace.
The airline Tara claims on its website to have been put on a list of approved airlines by the German TUI Group. A spokesman for TUI Group told the ARD Studio South Asia, this statement is misleading. Tara Air’s safety standards were never assessed by TUI. “A few years ago, our English tour operator made an assessment that the airline is able to operate economically regulated flights and that customers can book excursions there if they wish.”
With information from Peter Hornung, ARD Studio South Asia