Sing for the laugh, sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it´s just for today
...
Maybe tomorrow, the Good Lord will take you away
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until the dream comes true[break]
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dream comes true"
Co-pilot of the 9N-AFX DHC-6/300 (Twin Otter) Sachindra Shrestha had posted the song by Aerosmith on his Facebook wall on December 8. A week on, the plane has gone missing after leaving Lamidanda airport in Khotang for Kathmandu. It is feared to have crashed and he is feared dead.
Shrestha, ironically, was in a relationship with co-pilot Sofiya Singh of the ill-fated Dornier aircraft operated by Agni Air that crashed at Shikharpur of Makawanpur on August 24, 2010 killing all 14 persons on board including her. Shrestha´s friends say the duo was set to get married this year.
Tara Air flight with 22 people, 19 passengers and three crew members, on board has been missing since 3:13 Wednesday afternoon, three minutes after it left Lamidanda.
Captain Anup Raj Shakya of the Canada-built aircraft, on a chartered flight returning with pilgrims from Haleshi Mahadev, had reported to be on course for entering Ramechhap at 3:23 in its last conversation with the airport tower at 3:13.
The plane was two minutes west of Diktel, flying at an altitude of 8,500 meters at the time of its last report, according to Nepal Army sources. The sources said aerial rescue operation was conducted in co-ordination with Nepal Telecom to locate the plane in relation to the nearest telecom tower after some relatives reported that cell phones of some passengers were still on.
Captain Anup Raj Shakya
The plane was scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu at 3:40, according to a press statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
Ten of the passengers are female while the rest, including a foreigner, are male. Shakya was the captain, Shrestha the co-pilot and Sudikshya Gurung the air-hostess. A list given by the airline has identified the missing passengers as Nepali nationals TR Tamang, G Sherpa, K Sherpa, S Tamang, S Tamang, TR Tamang, PG Lama, KW Lama, P Tamang, KN Lama, ZD Sherpa, LW Sherpa, SB Lama, T Sherpa, TY Sherpa, PW Tamang, JB Tamang, TW Sherpa and foreigner Choedak Kelsang whose nationality has not been revealed.
However, sources claim that the passengers were all Bhutanese and had listed themselves as Nepai nationals to be eligible to fly at the lower rate applicable for Nepalis. “Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley had twice phoned Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in the evening and enquired about the rescue operation and status of the plane, saying Bhutanese citizens were on board,” press advisor of the PM, Bishnu Rijal, confirmed.
The CAAN press statement said two Air Dynasty choppers (9N-AFQ, AS 350 and 9N-AGU, AS 350), a Pilatus Porter and a Twin Otter of Tara Air, and other aircraft operating in the region were deployed for a search operation but they were thwarted by bad weather (cloud and fog). “The two Air Dynasty choppers are at Rumjatar airport for a night rest and will resume search operations immediately after the weather improves. A night vision helicopter of the Nepal Army is also being kept on standby,” the statement read.
The statement, under-signed by CAAN General Manager Dinesh Prasad Shrestha, further said that a team of local police and Nepal Army soldiers has been locally mobilized to search on foot.
Meanwhile, non-gazetted officer at the District Administration Office, Okhaldhunga Ganesh Kumar Adhikari called the Rescue Co-ordination Center in Kathmandu late in the evening and reported that locals claim to have heard a loud sound coming from near Mosung river in the district.
Related story
In pictures: Four hurt as Tara Air’s twin otter looses balance...
