Rescue workers inspect the wreckage at the Yeti Airlines plane crash site in Pokhara, Nepal, January 16, 2023. , photo credit: AFP
eyewitnesses of nepal passenger plane crash has said he shaved as the Yeti Airlines plane, with 72 people on board, including five IndiansIt crashed near their settlement and a bomb-like explosion was heard.
At least 68 people were killed when a plane plunged into a river gorge while landing at the newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara on Sunday. Country’s deadliest aviation accident in more than 30 years,
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Kalpana Sunar was washing clothes in the front yard of her house when she saw an airplane coming towards her from the sky. kathmandu post The newspaper quoted him as saying on Monday.
“The plane banked at an unusual angle and moments later, I heard a bomb-like explosion,” he said.
“Then I saw black smoke coming out of Seti Valley,” he continued.
One wing of the aircraft hit the ground about 12 meters away from the house of Geeta Sunar, a local resident.
Ms. Sunar, who miraculously survived, said, “If the plane had landed even a little closer to our house, the settlements would have been destroyed,” the newspaper reported.
“There was a lot of damage at the site of the incident, but since it happened away from habitation, there were no casualties or damage to settlements,” he said, adding that there was fire on both sides of the Seti Gorge. Dead bodies were scattered here and there.
Children who witnessed the incident said that they could hear the screams of the passengers from inside the plane as it fell from the sky.
Two 11-year-olds, Sameer and Prajwal Pariyar, initially thought the plane was a toy, but when it got closer, they ran away.
Sameer said, “Suddenly there was darkness all around because of the smoke.”
Another eyewitness, Bainsha Bahadur BK, said that if the plane had come straight, it would have crashed into settlements and caused more damage.
The newspaper quoted him as saying, “About seven or eight windows of the plane were still intact and we thought the passengers might still be alive.”
“But the fire spread to the other half of the plane in an instant as we watched in horror,” he said.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the Yeti Airlines 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am and landed on the banks of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing. crashed down. (CAAN).
A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft.
The fifteen foreign nationals on board included five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, one Australian, one French, one Argentinian and one Israeli.
Nepali rescuers resumed the search for the four missing on Monday after suspending rescue efforts on Sunday evening.
After the accident, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers.
On Sunday, the Nepal government constituted a five-member inquiry commission to investigate the plane crash.