January 15, 2023: It has been confirmed that 68 people died in the plane crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara on Sunday morning. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has informed that 68 people have died in the accident so far. There were 72 passengers on board including crew members.
15 foreign nationals died in the accident. In which four Russian citizens died. Among the dead are 5 Indian citizens, 2 South Korean citizens, one Irish citizen, one French citizen, and one Australian and one Argentine citizen.
Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site near the Seti River to help search search for bodies, said the rescue efforts were hampered by thick smoke and a raging fire.
The aviation authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.
Meanwhile, the government has commissioned a five-member team to investigate the plane crash.
According to locals who saw the aircraft before the crash assume the pilot diverted the aircraft to the gorge of the Seti river in a bid to save the human settlement after knowing it was going to crash.
Yeti Airlines has canceled all flights scheduled for tomorrow (Monday) after the ATR plane crash in Pokhara. In a statement issued on Sunday evening, the airlines informed that all scheduled flights scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled.
Government spokesman Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel said that the meeting held today in Baluwatar of the Council of Ministers decided to grant mourning leave for the plane crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara. The Council of Ministers meeting has expressed deep sorrow over the incident. It has been decided to mourn the tragic incident tomorrow January 16 and to give a public holiday for one day,” he said.
All over the world, ATR series aircraft are considered safe and reliable in civil aviation. According to Yograj Sharma Kandel, the spokesperson of the Air Service Operators Association, ATR aircraft are considered very safe from the point of view of air flight. If there is any problem in the aircraft, there is a signal on the ‘indicator’.Based on the same signal, the crew adopts the necessary procedures for the safe landing of the aircraft.
Ghanshyamraj Acharya, the representative of the Airline Operators Association and the office manager of Sita Air, also said that it was unfortunate that the ATR series aircraft, which is considered relatively safe, had an accident. He said, “In Nepal, small ships had more accidents. This is the first time that an ATR has been involved in an accident.”
