Search for missing person continues as authorities prepare to hand over bodies of plane crash victims

Published On: January 18, 2023 08:45 AM NPT By: Sajira Shrestha

Expert team of ATR manufacturer arrive in Nepal to study the country’s ‘worst’ domestic air disaster

KATHMANDU, Jan 18: The search for the last missing person in Sunday’s plane crash continues after rescuers on Tuesday pulled out one more body from the Seti River gorge where an ATR 72 aircraft of Yeti Airlines carrying 72 people had plunged in an attempt to land in the nearby Pokhara Airport.

Two days after the fatal crash, a woman's body was found deep down in the Seti River gorge 700 meters below the accident site. With this, the bodies of 71 people who died in the crash have been retrieved.

Although the search for the missing person started early morning on Tuesday with the help of divers and four drones, rescuers have given up hope of finding the missing person alive.

The ATR 72-500 series aircraft of Yeti Airlines with the call sign 9N-ANC had crashed into the gorge while making a final approach for landing in the newly-built Pokhara Regional International Airport. The plane that took off from Kathmandu at 10:33 am on Sunday was scheduled to land in Pokhara at 10:58 am. However, it crashed minutes before it was scheduled to land. The incident site lies near the Friendship Bridge between Pokhara Metropolitan City-7 and 15.

48 bodies of the deceased brought to Kathmandu

The dead bodies except that of the locals and those which could not be identified and those of foreigners were flown to Kathmandu on Tuesday afternoon.

The bodies of 48 victims have been brought to Kathmandu via Nepal Army helicopters for post-mortem at Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Superintendent of Police Dinesh Mainali of Kathmandu Police Range informed Republica that the dead bodies will be handed over to the respective families only after completion of autopsy.

“Forensics experts are currently working to complete the autopsy of the deceased. After we get the autopsy report, we will hand over the mortal remains of the deceased to the respective family members,” he said.

Meanwhile, among the bodies of 22 deceased whose autopsy was performed in Pokhara on Monday, eight bodies have been handed over to the family members. Remaining 14 bodies will be handed over to the respective families after the completion of post-mortem.

Team of experts of ATR manufacturer arrive in Nepal for study

A team of experts from France has arrived in Nepal to study the ATR plane crash of Yeti Airlines that took place in Pokhara on January 15.

A nine-member expert team from the company that manufactures the ATR aircraft reached Pokhara on Tuesday. Suresh Adhikari, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation said, “All stakeholders within the country and abroad have shown keen interest after the plane crash.”

The 'black box' of the ill-fated plane was recovered on Monday while the Air Crash Investigation Committee formed by an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday to investigate the crash has also started its work.