No more hope for survivors of the Nepal plane crash

Rescue workers are still searching for survivors of yesterday’s plane crash in Nepal, but police say the chances of finding them are slim. “It is unlikely that any survivors will be found,” a police spokesman told the BBC. Body parts are still found at the scene of the accident.

At the plane crash at the tourist city of Pokhara, at least 68 of the 72 occupants were killed. The cause of the disaster is still unclear. Images on social media show how the plane flies low over land in clear weather near one of the airports of Pokhara and suddenly turns over. Shortly afterwards, the plane hit the ground and caught fire.

Since yesterday, a major search and rescue operation has been underway at the disaster site, which is partly in a canyon, with hundreds of aid workers. “We will remove the five bodies that are still in the canyon and continue to search for the four people who are still missing,” a police official told Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, the black boxes of the twin-engine ATR 72 of Yeti Airlines have also been found, on which the flight and call data have been recorded. The hope is that they can provide more clarity about the cause of the disaster. The search operation is delayed today by the persistent fog in the canyon.

In addition to the investigation announced by the government, Prime Minister Prachanda has declared today a day of national mourning. Meanwhile, the bodies of the 53 Nepalese and 15 foreign passengers are being identified and handed over to their next of kin.

The foreign occupants came from India, Russia, South Korea, Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France. There were also four Yeti Airlines employees on board.

Air disasters are a regular occurrence in Nepal: since the year 2000, nearly 350 people have died in plane and helicopter accidents. The country in the Himalayas between India and China is very mountainous, which means that planes often have to land on short runways in difficult conditions. The weather conditions in the mountains can also change quickly.

Furthermore, the maintenance of the aircraft is not always in order. Aircraft from Nepal have not been allowed into European airspace since 2013, because the EU believes that the safety standards of the Nepalese fleet must first be improved.

Yesterday’s disaster is the deadliest crash in Nepal since 1992, when 167 people were killed in an accident involving a Pakistan International Airlines plane that hit a mountain while attempting to land near Kathmandu.

Despite international concerns about the Nepalese fleet, the country’s aviation industry has grown rapidly in recent years. Planes and helicopters fly in and out, especially around the climbers’ and hikers’ Valhalla Pokhara. There are many flights to hard-to-reach climbing locations and Yeti Airlines, for example, does special panoramic flights along Mount Everest from Kathmandu.