UPDATE:
Nepali authorities have recovered 21 bodies, out of 22 people who were on board a plane that crashed in the Himalayas. Efforts are underway to bring the casualties to Kathmandu. Search operations for the one remaining missing person are ongoing. Emergency personnel had earlier located the wreckage of the missing aircraft on a hillside. Authorities have said the chances of survival are low.
Source: CNA
Original:
The bodies of 14 persons who were onboard the missing Tara Air plane have been found at the crash site at Sansure, Thasang rural municipality-2 of Mustang district.
The Tara Air plane crashed on Sunday. The District Administration Office Mustang said the security personnel and locals who reached the crash site found 14 bodies at 10.30 am today Monday, May 30.
Administrative Officer at the Office, Devendra Raj Pandey said the identity of the bodies killed in the crash is being established.
- The team of army and police personnel and Sherpas who reached the crash site by helicopter and the locals who reached on foot are retrieving the bodies and searching for those missing.
A contingent of about 100 security personnel has reached the crash site which is at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres from the mean sea level.
Administrative Officer Pandey said sending additional security personnel and bringing the bodies back by helicopter is posing a challenge due to the fog cover at the crash site.
The plan is to bring the bodies to Kobang via helicopter after search and rescue and the retrieved bodies are identified and a police report about this is prepared. A helicopter each of the Nepal Army, Fishtail Air and Kailash Air had been mobilised for the search, said Chief District Officer, Mustang, Netra Prasad Sharma.
A helicopter returned to Naurikot after transporting a search and rescue team to the incident site when the weather was good, he said, adding that efforts were on to ferry more rescuers and collect the bodies when weather improves.
The wreckage of the aircraft was recovered at the foot of Manapathi Mountain, a four-hour walk from Kowang of Thasang Rural Municipality. Search efforts for the plane throughout Sunday were affected by bad weather conditions.
- Yarchagumba pickers and shepherds in the area had heard a big bang probably caused by the plane crash into the mountain.
A team of the Nepal Army from Kathmandu on Sunday reached the incident site along with the required materials for a rescue.
The Twin Otter aircraft of Tara Air with 22 people including three crew members onboard took off at 9:55 am from Pokhara for Jomsom and lost contact with the air control in Jomsom at 10:07 am.
- Being affected by bad weather condition, the plane later turned through the Dhaulagiri and Manapathi Mountains towards Pokhara instead of flying to Jomsom, said local people.
The passengers included 12 Nepali people, four Indian and two Germans, according to the Tara Air.
Source: Nepal News
Missing Tara Air plane found crashed, 14 bodies recovered
Rescuers pulled out 14 bodies from the crash site of Tara Air and have been scouring the area for the remains of the others, according to rescuers.
- Pieces of wreckage of the passenger plane that crashed on Sunday morning were found at 14,500ft in Sano Sware Bhir of Thasang in Mustang district in northwestern Nepal, after nearly 20 hours since the plane went missing, the Nepal Army said on Monday.
The Twin Otter aircraft of Tara Air with 22 people onboard, including three members of the crew, had slammed into a mountain.
On Sunday morning it took off at 9:55am from Pokhara and lost contact with air control about 12 minutes later at 10:07am, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Nepali Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal shared the picture of the Tara Air plane wreckage on social media early on Monday morning.
“Search and rescue troops have physically located the plane crash site. Details will be followed,” Silwal tweeted.
Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Tara Air, told the Post based on rescuers information that bodies of 14 people have been found.
- “As the bodies have been scattered over a 100 metre radius from the main impact point, the search and rescue team is collecting them.”
The plane slammed into the mountain breaking into pieces, said Bartaula.
“The impact has blown the bodies all over the hill.”
The photo posted on the social media site shows the tail and one wing of the aircraft remain intact.
The search and rescue team reached the crash site on Monday morning based on the information from yarsa pickers on Sunday.
- The helicopter has dropped three rescuers—from Nepal Army, Nepal Police and a high altitude rescue guide—early in the morning. “The remaining team will reach the site soon,” said Bartaula.
As the area can accommodate only one chopper at the crash site, it is shuttling the rescuers, said Bartaula.
Search was suspended on Sunday because of bad weather and failing light.
Source: THE KATHMANDU POST
Header: The Anapurna range from above Pokhara, Nepal. Phewa lake (below) and Machapucharé, Annapurna III, Annapurna IV, Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal (from left to right) on the horizon. Jean-Marie Hullot