Nepal Plane Crash Leaves 68 Passengers Killed, 4 Missing

Posted: January 17, 2023

The aftermath of the Nepal plane crash spelled total devastation for those who were first on the scene. The charred wreckage of the aircraft was clearly visible and the rescue efforts for the passengers quickly turned into a recovery mission. This is one of the deadliest out of the many crashes the country had to endure- 42 since 1946.

The Yeti Airlines crash 2023 in Nepal sounded like loud thunder as described by a resident who rushed to the site to help look for survivors. An unverified video that went viral on social media showed the last moments prior to the crash of a low-flying plane. It suddenly turned on its side before disappearing from view.

Other videos posted online of the ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop propeller plane showed that it was on fire and large plumes of smoke were billowing from the crash site. Crowds gathered as the bodies of victims were being identified. They will be returned to their families when postmortem examinations have been completed. While bodies of foreign passengers that have been identified will be airlifted to Kathmandu.

Yeti Airlines Crash 2023 Cause

The flight was supposed to land in the town’s resort of Pokhara which is a half-hour flight from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. There were reportedly 72 passengers and crew that were on board. There were at least 53 Nepali nationals and 15 foreigners on the flight. Five were from India, four came from Russia, two from South Korea, one from Australia, one from Argentina, one from Ireland, and one from France. Nepalese residents’ families and friends waited outside hospitals for news. This was a very tragic incident and the Prime Minister has quickly deployed rescue operations.

Just last year 22 people died when the aircraft crashed on a mountainside following its take off from Pokhara. Nepal is considered one of the most dangerous areas to fly in the world since it has eight of the world’s highest mountains, which include Mount Everest. This is no small feat even for veteran commercial pilots.

The area’s topography means abrupt weather changes can easily create hazardous conditions in flight. There’s the sudden change of wind directions, obscurations of airports and mountains, etc. For the past 10 years, the European Union has banned all Nepalese Airlines from its airspace due to safety concerns. Not only are the planes old, like the one that was involved in the crash, but the country itself lacks the infrastructure to obtain accurate weather forecasts critical for commercial air flights.

Is Yeti Airlines Safe?

No, it is not as data shows that the aircraft was 15 years old and was equipped with an old transponder. The black box flight recorder has been recovered after authorities scoured through the wreckage of the Nepal plane crash. The pilot asked to switch from assigned runway 3 to runway 1, which the airport granted. It appeared the pilot did his best not to hit homes and instead chose a small space beside the Seti River where the plane hit the ground.

This year’s Nepal plane crash is just one of many in the past decades. In May, 22 people died in another plane crash that involved another twin-propeller plane that was operated by Tara Air, which happens to be a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines. The aircraft departed from Pokhara’s old airport bound for a tourist town in Jomson, which is 20 minutes away.

Unfortunately, aviation accidents are pretty common in Nepal because of its remote runways and sudden changes in weather. The Himalayan nation attracts thousands of tourists each year and has some of the most breathtaking mountains in the world. Sadly though, it also has some of the most difficult and treacherous terrains to navigate.