At least 68 people died in a plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal.
Kathmandu:
An eyewitness said on Sunday that the inhospitable terrain on the banks of the Seti river hampered initial rescue efforts by local villagers who rushed to rescue the 72 passengers on board the crashed Nepalese passenger plane.
At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people on board, including five Indians, crashed on Sunday while landing at the newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara in central Nepal, officials said.
Arun Tamu, a local whose house was located near the plane crash site, recounts the series of events that followed the latest aviation disaster in Nepal.
“We heard a loud noise, and when we reached the spot (of the accident), we were the only people in the village. It took some time for the police to reach the spot even as we started our rescue efforts.
Tamu said that he and other villagers initially tried to douse the fire with debris by bringing buckets of water.
“We also pulled out 10-12 people, two of whom were breathless,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
Rescue efforts were hampered because the airplane crashed in difficult terrain on the banks of the Seti river, making it difficult for villagers to approach the crash site, Tamu said.
“It was difficult to reach the place where the plane crashed,” he said.
“We are not even likely to jump into the fire. Also, there is a danger of being washed away as the plane crashed on the banks of the Seti River. There was a bush, and we were afraid that we would fall into the abyss while trying to rescue people,” he explained.
Tamu admitted that it was only after the arrival of the police that the rescue efforts were intensified.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the Yeti Airlines 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and landed on the banks of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport. crashed down. ,
A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft.
The foreign nationals on board include five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, one Australian, one French, one Argentinian and one Israeli.
Yeti Airlines spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said there was no information about any survivors so far.
After the accident, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The Government of Nepal constituted a five-member inquiry commission on Sunday to investigate the plane crash.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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