Four Americans, Japanese and British among dead
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expressed his deep condolence to the family members of the demise souls of the plane crash.[break]
PM Nepal who arrived at Tribhuwan International Airport said that he was saddened by the incident and termed the incident as ‘sorrowful’. He added that he was hopeful of unveiling the reasons behind the incident by the probe committee.
Meanwhile, the government formed a five-member committee led by aviation expert Kumar Prasad Upadhyay to look into the plane crash incident on Tuesday.
The committee which comprises Rajan Pokharel, deputy director of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Rajendra Man Shakya, captain of Sita Air and Sharad Bhakta Raj Bhandari, engineer of Buddha Air, and under secretary of CAAN Suresh Acharya as members has to submit its report within 65 days.
Meanwhile, an aircraft carrying a rescue squad of Nepal Army dispatched from Kathmandu landed some 1.5 kilometer south of the incident spot. However, they failed to collect the body parts of the deceased as they were widely scattered throughout the crash spot. They will carry out the operation on Wednesday.
Rescue operations at the plane crash site have been severely affected by torrential rainfall, police said.
A rescue squad of Nepal Army comprising 35 personnel from Phaparbari reached to the site. The body parts of the deceased scattered at the site are being collected by the rescue teams.
All 14 people killed in the Agni Air crash at Shikharpur of Makawanpur district have been identified.
According to Agni Air, the passengers killed in the accident are Mr Yuki Hayashi, 20 (Japan), Mr Taylor Jeremy, 31 (UK), Ms Irina Shekhets, 31 (US), Ms Levzi Cardoso, 50 (US), Ms Heather Finch, 41 (US), Ms Kendra Dominique Fallon, 19 (US), Mr Prakash Amagain, 33, Ms A Rai, Mr I Rijal, Mr P Bhote and Mr P Sherpa.
Captain Laxman Prakash Shah, co pilot Sophiya Singh and air hostess Sahara Sherpa were also killed.
Meanwhile, rescue operations at the plane crash site in Shikharpur of Makawanpur district are underway on Tuesday.
Two aircraft—Fishtail Air and Nepal Army (NA) aircraft—have arrived at the spot where an Agni Air flight crashed Tuesday morning killing all 14 people on board.
Also, a rescue squad of Nepal Police led by Inspector Pramod Kurung has been dispatched to the spot.
A 9N AHE D-228 (Dornier) aircraft of Agni Air crashed at Bastipur of Shikharpur VDC-2 in Makawanpur district. The plane had left from Kathmandu for Lukla but could not land there due to inclement weather.
The crash occurred while the plane was returning to the capital. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
According to Makawanpur Police Office, a 10-feet ditch was created in the incident spot when the plane fell down in a field nearby Bagiya Thakur Primary School.
All 14—11 passengers and three crew members—on board were killed, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed. Four of the passengers were American nationals; one was a Japanese national and one British national, spokesperson of Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry Laxman Bhattarai informed myrepublica.com.
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