A passenger plane with 72 people on board has crashed on approach to land on its way from the capital Kathmandu to the second largest city Pokhara.
After Plane crash in Nepal kills dozens The search for the last inmates continues. So far, the bodies of 66 of the 72 people on board have been found and taken to a hospital for identification, said the coordinator of the rescue work on site on Monday of the German Press Agency. The bodies would then be handed over to the relatives.
On Sunday evening, the affected Nepalese Yeti Airlines had confirmed the death of 69 people. The coordinator explained the difference by saying that teams searched for bodies at several locations around the wreckage in and around a 300-meter-deep gorge in the city of Pokhara, and some were double-counted. The investigation into the cause of the crash continued. The Blackblox was finally found on Monday, according to the news agency Archyde.com reported.
The machine crashed on Sunday morning on the approximately half-hour flight between the capital Kathmandu and the second largest city Pokhara on the landing approach, according to the Nepalese aviation authority.
Starting point for trekking tours in the Himalayas
Pokhara is the starting point for numerous trekking tours in the Himalayas, including to the Annapurna massif, a popular hiking region. It is one of the worst air traffic accidents in the poor country in years.
Plane crashes are common in Nepal. Among other things, this has to do with the fact that many of the world’s highest mountains are located there, including Mount Everest, and weather conditions can change quickly. The safety supervision by the Nepalese aviation authorities is from the perspective of the EU also not sufficient. Because of safety concerns, Nepalese airlines are therefore not allowed to fly in EU airspace. The airline Yeti Airlines, for which the accident machine was in use, is on an EU blacklist due to safety concerns.
(APA/dpa)
