By Santosh | A plane carrying mostly tourists has crashed in Nepal killing dozens onboard, officials in the south Asian nation said on Sunday.
The plane operated by Yeti Airlines was carrying 72 people when it went down while descending to land at an airport.
A local eyewitness on the ground said the plane’s pilot seemed to be doing his best to avoid populated areas as it crashed.
Dhivya Dhakal told reporters that rescue choppers were at the scene within minutes and when she rushed to the crash site a large crowd of onlookers were already there.
According to officials, the 68 dead included 53 Nepalese, five Indians, four Russians, an Australian, an Irish national, a traveler from Argentina and another from France.
Nepalese rescue officials said they hope to find more bodies at the crash site.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said the plane, a 15-year-old ATR 72, stopped transmitting its position at 5:05 GMT.
Nepal’s air safety record is not so good and accidents are attributed to lack of training for pilots and poor maintenance of aircraft.
According to news reports the European Union has banned Nepal’s planes in its airspace over safety concerns.
Comments