CHITWAN, Jan 16: Her family was preparing to celebrate the Maghe Sankranti festival at home on Sunday as Oshin Ale Magar, a flight attendant with Yeti Airlines, left home with the promise of celebrating the festival after returning from Pokhara.
However, her wish to celebrate the Maghe Sankranti festival remained unfulfilled as she never returned back from Pokhara. She was on board the plane that crashed in Pokhara just before it was about to land.
Her tearful father Mohan recalls that he had told her early in the morning not to go for work on a festive day.
She insisted on celebrating the festival after completing two flights on that fateful day, Mohan told Republica over the phone.
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Air hostess Oshin had been working with Yeti Airlines for two years. Originally from Madi in Chitwan, Oshin was living in Kathmandu after starting her job and had also invited her parents to stay with her in the capital since the last six months.
However, her desire to celebrate the festival remained unfulfilled. She went to sleep from she would never wake up.
Oshin has two sisters and one brother. She is the eldest daughter among the four siblings. Her brother is just four years old. She took her brother and sisters to Kathmandu for their education. One of her sisters is preparing to go to Japan. Former Ward Chairman Krishna Prasad Adhikari, who is her neighbor, said that she took her parents to Kathmandu because she wanted to stay with them. When she came to Madi, she used to express to her friends her desire of doing social service besides her work with the airline company.
Her father has five siblings. Two of them live in Madi and three in Bharatpur. Her father Mohan Ale Magar is a retired Indian Army personnel. Oshin also had a dream to take her cousins to Kathmandu for their education. “She used to request me not to worry about their studies. She would console me at all times,'' Adhikari said, quoting her aunt.
Oshin studied in Oxford College in Gaindakot and in India. She graduated as an airhostess from Sahara Air Hostess Academy. After passing the international air hostess training, she worked continuously except during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. Oshin, 24, got married two years ago in Pokhara and her husband is currently in the UK.
Her maternal family has been living in Madi Municipality-8 of Chitwan since the last five years and in Kathmandu for the last six months. Her entire village in Madi is currently mourning. Her father Mohan Ale Magar and mother Sabnam Ale Magar have reached Pokhara to identify the dead body of their daughter. The mayor of Madi Municipality and the ward chairman are also consoling the relatives.
The ATR 72-500 series aircraft with call sign 9N-ANC of Yeti Airlines, which flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara at 10:33 am on Sunday, was scheduled to land at Pokhara International Airport at 10:58 am. However, while making the final approach for landing, the plane suddenly crashed into the Seti River gorge near the Friendship Bridge between Pokhara Metropolitan City-7 and 15.
There were 72 people including 68 passengers and four crew members on board the ill-fated aircraft. The bodies of 69 people have been recovered from the crash site while three are still missing.
