Bodies of the ill-fated plane´s captain Diwakar Karki, co-pilot Bishal Singh Rathor, NA lieutenant Dr Ramita Pathak, NA soldier Keshav Singh Aire, NA soldier Milan Gotame and policeman Raghubir Aire were on Wednesday airlifted by an NA chopper to Kathmandu for postmortem, according to Baglung DSP Uma Prasad Chaturbedi.[break]
The NA plane, RAN-49, had crashed on a hillock close to Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve (DHR) at 6:30 pm Tuesday after losing contact with Nepalgunj air traffic control. The plane had taken off from Nepalgunj with sick NA soldiers Keshab Singh Aire and Milan Gotame, who were admitted to No. 4 Field Gulma in Nepalgunj for treatment, to Kathmandu. The plane had taken off from Nepalgunj at around 7.06 pm on Tuesday.
Raghubir Aire, a Nepalgunj-based policeman, was onboard to accompany his sick brother Keshav Singh. Keshav was deputed to Singhshardul Gulma in Simkot of Humla.
A five-member team led by inspector Nathu Ram Chaudhari had set out on a search mission from Dhorpatan police post within a couple of hours after the news of the crash broke. It was the first team to officially confirm that the plane had crashed. The police team reached the accident site at around 11 Tuesday night.
The rescue work, however, could not begin Tuesday night as the crash site was on a top hill filled with snow. The search mission began only on early Wednesday morning.
Kin of Major Bishal.
As the local police team failed to accomplish the search mission, a 13-member police team led by inspector Bir Bahadur Pulami also reached the crash site Wednesday. Another team of 39 NA soldiers deployed from Surya Dal Battalion, Bhimgithe, reached there for necessary back-up. Police said the plane was badly damaged.
“The plane has broken into pieces,” inspector Pulami said, adding, “A few trees at the crash site were also damaged after the plane fell over them.” While four dead bodies were found easily early morning, two bodies were retrieved from the wreckage of the crashed plane. “Almost all except for one body were dismembered,” he said. “Captain Karki´s body was identified from his identity card.”
Although an NA helicopter tried to reach the crash site Tuesday night itself, it had to return to Kathmandu due to adverse weather conditions. The chopper landed in Pakhachaur, some two and a half hours walk from the crash site, only on Wednesday morning. NA personnel and policemen carried the bodies down to Pakhachaur and from there all bodies were flown to Kathmandu.
According to an eye-witness, Dipak Thapa, a deafening explosion was heard as the plane crashed. “We all started looking toward the direction from which the sound came and we saw huge flames of fire rising up in the sky,” Thapa said. “We quickly informed local police.”
Meanwhile, a committee has been formed to probe the NA plane crash, read a statement issued by the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of NA on Wednesday.
The seven-member committee is led by Brigadier General Sudhir Shrestha, who is also a pilot with NA.
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