The crash of the Nepalese company “Yeti Airlines” completed a family tragedy that began 16 years ago.
Anju Khatiwada is one of the victims of the ill-fated plane that crashed Sunday after it caught fire while flying at low altitude over a populated area near Bukhara airport, local media reported.
Khatiwada was the widow of pilot Dipak Pokerel, who also co-piloted a Yeti Airlines flight and was killed when his plane crashed.
Anju Khatiwada, who died on Sunday in a plane crash in Nepal, decided to become a pilot after her husband was killed in a crash in 2006. The family’s calamities are part of a deadly pattern of aviation disasters in the country. https://t.co/e17J33AEIh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 17, 2023
Bokerel was on a relief flight carrying rice and food to the western town of Jumla, when his plane crashed and caught fire in June 2006, killing all nine people on board, according to CNN.
It is noteworthy that Khatiwada defied several difficulties to become an aviation professional, including being sent for training in the United States, leaving her young child from her husband, the victim pilot.
Khatiwada is one of only 6 female pilots working for Yeti Airlines.
The co-pilot of the ill-fated flight that crashed in #Nepal lost her husband in a plane crash 16 years earlier, it has emerged. Anju Khatiwada was co-piloting Yeti airlines flight 691 when it smashed into a gorge near the tourist town of Pokhara. #theCivileyes pic.twitter.com/dbW7QgfTZM
— TheCivilEyes (@TheCivilEyes) January 17, 2023
Khatiwada later remarried after the death of her first husband, had a second child, and continued building her career, according to family members.
On social media, activists interacted with the news, and re-published pictures of the late, and many confirmed that this news is tragic and heartbreaking.
One commentator said he was sad to hear the news of the death of Anju Khatiwada, the co-pilot who decided to fulfill the dream of her husband, who died in a plane crash in 2006.
Sad to hear about the passing of Anju Khatiwada, a pilot who decided to pursue her dreams after her husband was killed in a plane crash in 2006. Heartbreaking #RIPAnjuKhatiwada https://t.co/2oiQN6AP16
— Rotimi Ogunyemi (@pastorow) January 17, 2023
On Sunday, the ITR-72, which was coming from the capital, Kathmandu, crashed with 72 people on board, 68 passengers and 4 crew members.
The Nepalese authorities classified the accident as the worst air disaster since 1992 in the country located in the Himalayas, and French and Canadian investigators are participating in investigations to find out the cause of the accident.
