A plane with 72 people on board crashed in the Nepalese city of Pokhara on Sunday. Almost all occupants did not survive the crash. Local police say some survivors have been taken to hospital.
There were 68 passengers and 4 employees on the plane of the local airline Yeti Airlines. There were also people with a foreign identity on board. It concerns five people from India, four Russians, two people from South Korea and passengers from Ireland, Australia, France and Argentina.
According to local police, 67 of the 72 occupants have died. It is not yet known how many survivors have been transported to the hospital and how they are doing.
The aircraft was en route from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara. At around 10:50 a.m. (local time), it was still in contact with air traffic control, but then the plane crashed into the hills. The plane has broken into several pieces and is partly in the hills, partly in the river Seti.
An eyewitness tells the news agency Reuters that he saw the plane shake and move left and right. “And then the nose suddenly dipped and it went into the canyon.”
The Nepalese government has launched a crisis consultation. Authorities will investigate the crash. They expect to come up with the results within 45 days.
Deadliest crash since 2018
According to Reuters it is the deadliest crash since 1992. In that year, a plane crashed near Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.
There are more plane accidents in Nepal, partly because the weather in the mountainous country can change quickly. Due to security concerns, Nepalese airlines are no longer allowed to fly in the airspace of the European Union.
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