The plane, which had taken off from Pokhara at around 8.10 a.m., met with the accident at 8.33 a.m. Among the passengers, 8 are Japanese tourists. [break]
As per a press statement issued by Nepal Airlines, pilot Dipendra Pradhan and co-pilot Suresh KC are in critical condition. They have been brought to TU Teaching Hospital at Maharajgunj in the capital.
All the crew members and seven passengers including 3 Japanese tourists were airlifted to Pokhara for treatment at the Western Regional Hospital. Later, the crew and the injured Japanese were brought to Kathmandu.
According to Laxmi Raj Gautam, chief district officer of Mustang, 9 people including the crew members were more severely injured than the rest. “We have sent 17 injured passengers to Pokhara by air,” Gautam informed.
Gautam further said that the cockpit of the plane dived into the river bank and the left wing was submerged in the water. “The plane did not fall into the water as its rear portion got stuck on the airport boundary wall,” Gautam added. He also said the cause of the accident is yet to emerge.
Surya Bahadur Khatri, air traffic controller at Jomsom Airport, informed that the plane had already touched the runway when it suddenly lost balance and ploughed towards a grassy stretch before falling to the river bank. “The plane was landing in the usual way. We are at a loss to know how it lost balance,” Khatri said. The plane was broken asunder in the accident.
A team of the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and locals carried out rescue and salvage work immediately after the accident. The team was at the accident site within 10 minutes.
“We heard a sudden loud sound while the plane was landing and did not know what was happening. It became clear that it was an accident after the plane plummeted to the river bank,” said Hiroko Kawakami, a Japanese passenger.
Govida Pahadi, another passenger, recounted the scary experience and said they feel that they have escaped from the jaws of death.
Pahadi, a central committee member of the NGO Federation, was in a back seat near the emergency exit. When the plane lost balance and started heading toward the river bank, he tried to open the exit but could not. “There was no problem until it touched the ground for landing. Then suddenly it started to shudder unusually. Looking through the window, I saw how we were heading toward some grassy ground before crashing onto the riverside,” he said.
“Passengers were in a hurry to jump out of the aircraft, fearing an explosion. When I came out, it felt like a new birth,” he added.
The accident took place exactly a year after the Agni Air crash that killed 15 people including two crew members, and at the same place. On May 14 last year, 13 Indian pilgrims and two crew members died and six others were injured when an Agni Air plane crashed on a hill near Jomsom airport.
“Repeated plane crashes in the same place will have a negative impact on tourism in the area,” said an airline official.
“Repeated air accidents in Mustang, one of the major attractions for foreign tourists, send out a negative message,” said Surya Bahadur Bhujel, chairman of Pokhara Tourism Council.
NA Friday flight schedules for the route to be unaffected
Meanwhile, Nepal Airlines said that its other scheduled and chartered fights for Friday on the Pokhara-Jomsom route would not be affected by the accident.
According to Mahesh Moktan, in-charge at the airline´s office in Pokhara, Nepal Airlines will make four flights on the route on Friday, including one scheduled and three charters.
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