At least 40 people have been declared dead after a domestic flight crashed in Pokhara in Nepal on Sunday, January 15, 2023, an aviation authority official said.
Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring the hillside where the plane carrying 72 people from the capital Kathmandu, went down.
Yeti Airlines, which operated the flight, said there were 72 people onboard – 68 passengers and four crew.
According to an airport official, the foreign nationals on board included: one Australian, one French, one Argentinian, four Russians, five Indians, two South Koreans and one person from Ireland.
“We expect to recover more bodies,” said an army spokesperson, Krishna Bhandari, said. “The plane has broken into pieces.”
The plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.
Footage shared on social media, which appeared to be shot just after the crash, showed raging flames on the ground and black smoke billowing into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.
“I saw the plane trembling, moving left and right, and then suddenly its nose dived and it went into the gorge,” Chhetri told Reuters, adding that local residents took two passengers to a hospital.
The crash is Nepal’s deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.
At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal, – home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where the weather can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions. The European Union has banned Nepali airlines from its airspace since 2013, citing safety concerns.
