A plane with 72 people on board crashes this Sunday in Nepal, the death toll is 67
Sylvie Claire / January 16, 2023
At least 67 people died in a plane crash in Nepal out of the 72 on board but there were some survivors, an official told AFP on Sunday.
Initially announced as 29 dead, the death toll from the terrible crash has risen to 67, for now. "We have recovered 29 bodies so far and have also sent some survivors to hospital" to receive treatment, said Gurudatta Dhakal, deputy head of Kaski district, in central Nepal where the plane crashed.
Fifteen foreign nationals, including one Frenchman, were among the passengers.
Of the 72 people on board, including 68 passengers, there were five Indian nationals, four Russians, two Koreans, an Australian, an Argentinean, an Irishman and a Frenchman, reported Sudrashan Bardaula of Yeti Airlines.
The plane from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu crashed near the old airport of Pokhara, in central Nepal, where it was to land.
In May 2022, all 22 people aboard a twin-engine Twin Otter operated by Nepalese company Tara Air - 16 Nepalese, four Indians and two Germans - died when the plane crashed.
Air traffic control lost contact with the twin-propeller aircraft shortly after it took off from Pokhara for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination. Its wreckage was found a day later on the side of a mountain at an altitude of about 4,400 meters.
About 60 people participated in the search mission, most of them having walked for miles to get there.
After the crash, the authorities tightened regulations, notably so that planes are only allowed to fly if the weather forecast is favorable throughout the journey.
In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near the notoriously difficult Kathmandu International Airport, killing 51 people.
The crash was the deadliest in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died in a crash on the approach to Kathmandu.
Two months earlier, a Thai Airways plane crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.