Captain Dinesh Neupane and Co-pilot Santosh Rana were killed in the crash-landing at Chilkhaya VDC-2 in Kalikot district, according to Chief District Officer Pradip Shrestha.
The ill-fated aircraft had taken off at 12:16 p.m. from Nepalgunj airport for Jumla with 11 people on board, including the two-man crew. The single-engine plane lost contact with the airport tower 11 minutes after take-off. It crash-landed at Chilakhaya VDC-2 at 1:05 p.m., after running into technical difficulties.
The nine passengers sustained injuries, including one who is said to be in a critical condition. The nine are Megh Raj Giri, Ganesh Bhattachan, Sonali Bhattachan, Laxmi Sunar, Govinda Bhandari, Dhananjaya Khatri, Jagadamba Khatri, an unnamed child, and Laxman Khadka who is in serious condition.
All the injured have been taken by a Shree Air helicopter to Nepalgunj Medical College, CDO Shrestha said.
Following the incident, a team of Nepal Police and Nepal Army personnel was deployed to the crash-landing site located on farmland
Pilot, co-pilot saved passengers
After experienced technical glitches during the flight, the pilot informed the passengers that he and the co-pilot would save them all, Megh Raj Giri, one of the passengers, recalled.
“True to his word, the pilot and co-pilot died to save us,” Giri told Republica.
When Captain Neupane informed that the plane was experiencing difficulties and could not land at its destination in Jumla, all the passengers had cried out, according to Giri.
Kasthamandap reports 30 percent progress in reconstruction work...
The father of deceased Air Kasthamandap pilot Dinesh Neupane with the body of his son at Nepalgunj Medical College Teaching Hospital, in Kohalpur of Banke on Friday. (Arjun Oli/republica)
The captain had then immediately assured the passengers of their safety.
The propeller had stopped working and the captain informed passengers about a possible accident. The crew then tried an emergency landing.
Following the crash-landing, locals rescued the passengers. Krishna Bahadur Shahi, a local, informed that local assistant health workers provided medical treatment to the injured.
The front wheels of the plane had collided with a log of firewood while attempting the emergency landing. Had the plane not collided with the log, the crew could have survived, according to Assistant Sub-Inspector Dan Bahadur Bam, in-charge at the police post at Padamghat.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has extended condolences to the families of the crew members killed in the incident, and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.
PM Oli also directed the authorities to carry out rescue operations at the earliest and arrange medical treatment for the injured, as per a press statement issued by the PM's press advisor, Pramod Dahal.
