Nepal’s prime minister declared a day of national mourning on Monday and the country’s government set up a panel to investigate the cause of the plane crash that killed at least 68 of the 72 people on board on Sunday, according to reports.
“I saw the plane shaking, moving from left to right, and suddenly it plummeted and went into the gorge,” local resident Khum Bahadur Chhetri told Reuters.
The plane, a Yeti Airlines flight, was on a 27-minute flight to a resort town in Nepal when it crashed into a gorge while trying to land at a newly opened airport.
The plane took off from Kathmandu at 10:32 local time and checked in again at 10:50 before crashing.
DOZENS KILLED IN NEPAL PLANE CRASH AFTER PLANE TAKES POINT TO RIVER GORGE
Rescuers and Nepalese civilians gather around the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, January 15, 2023. Nepali authorities said 68 people have been confirmed dead after a regional airliner passengers with 72 on board crashed into a gorge. while landing at a newly opened airport in the resort city of Pokhara. It is the deadliest plane crash in the country in three decades.
(AP Photo/Krishna Mani Baral)
It was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
Hours after dark, dozens of onlookers crowded around the crash site near the airport in the resort city of Pokhara as rescuers combed through debris on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below. Authorities suspended the search for the four missing people overnight and planned to resume the search on Monday.
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Rescuers recover the body of a victim of a passenger plane that crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. A plane on a 27-minute flight to a Nepalese resort town crashed into a gorge on Sunday. while attempting to land at a newly opened airport, killing at least 68 of the 72 people on board. At least one witness reported hearing cries for help from inside the burning wreckage, the country’s deadliest plane crash in three decades.
(AP Photo/Yunish Gurung)
the shock is Nepal’s worst air disaster since 1992, when a plane carrying 167 people crashed near the capital, killing all on board.
Home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, Nepal has a history of plane crashes. According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.
A woman cries as the body of a relative, the victim of a plane crash, is brought to a hospital in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, January 15, 2023. A plane on a 27-minute flight to a Nepalese resort town crashed. crashed into a gorge on Sunday while trying to land at a newly opened airport, killing at least 68 of the 72 people on board. At least one witness reported hearing cries for help from inside the burning wreckage, the country’s deadliest plane crash in three decades.
(AP Photo/Yunish Gurung)
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It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said.
Anders Hagstrom of Fox News, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
