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 officer AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that another 36 bodies were found in the gorge where the plane crashed.
He said the plane, which took off from Kathmandu for Pokhara, crashed between the central Nepal city’s domestic airport and the international one that opened on January 1.
After the crash, rescuers hosed off the wreckage of the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop as smoke billowed from a ravine as hundreds of people watched.
The area was littered with what appeared to be parts of the plane, including the seats.
“Rescuers have already reached there and tried to put out the fire. All agencies are now concentrating first on putting out the fire and rescuing the passengers,” said local official Gurudutta Dhakal.
Footage shared on social media, which appeared to have been filmed right after the crash, showed raging flames on the ground and black smoke billowing into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.
AFP could not immediately verify the images.
Another unverified clip shared online showed a plane flying low over a residential area slanting sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.
bad history
Nepal’s airline industry has thrived in recent years, transporting goods and people between hard-to-reach areas, as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.
But it has been plagued with poor security due to insufficient training and maintenance.
The European Union has banned all Nepalese carriers from its airspace for security reasons.
The Himalayan country also has some of the most remote and tricky tracks in the world, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that challenge even expert pilots.
Aircraft operators have said that Nepal lacks the infrastructure to make accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where fatal accidents have occurred in the past.
The weather can also change rapidly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.
In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by the Nepalese airline Tara Air (16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans) died when it crashed.
Air traffic control lost contact with the twin-prop Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.
His remains were found a day later, scattered on the side of a mountain at about 4,400 meters (14,500 ft) above sea level.
After that accident, authorities tightened regulations, including that planes would only be allowed to fly if there was a favorable weather forecast for the entire route.
In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near the notoriously rough Kathmandu International Airport, killing 51 people.
That accident was the deadliest in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu.
Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways plane had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.
