Kathmandu - Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of all 22 people on board a plane that crashed in the Himalayas as well as the black box from the crash site was recovered.
Tara Air twin-otter aircraft which was more than two decades old crashed onto the hillside of Mustang District on Sunday morning, killing all 22 people on board which included 13 Nepali, 4 Indians, 2 German nationals, and 3 crew members.
“We have recovered all the dead bodies on Monday and Tuesday. All 22 bodies have been carried to Kathmandu in the Nepal Army MI-17 helicopter.
“Yesterday we brought 10 and today we carried 12 dead bodies to Kathmandu and we dispatched all the dead bodies to Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for further post-mortem and forensic tests,” Tek Nath Sitaula, Spokesperson at Tribhuwan International Airport told ANI.
The bodies will be handed over to the families after performing the post-mortem and completion of other procedures, the official said.
The twin-otter aircraft, which took off from Pokhara for Jomsom in Mustang at 9:55 am (NST) on Sunday, lost contact shortly after takeoff and was later found at Sansure Cliff of Thasang Rural Municipality-2 in Mustang on Monday morning.
In a further statement, “We are in the process of closing the search and rescue mission since all the dead bodies have been recovered and the flight data recorder- cockpit voice recorder already been recovered from the accident site. It is being carried to Kathmandu by the concerned authorities and the government already has constituted an accident investigation commission,” the officer informed.
A five-membered committee has been formed on Monday to probe the crash under the directions of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale.
Headed by senior aeronautical engineer Ratischandra Lal Suman, other members of the committee include captain Dipu Jwarchan (aeronautical engineer), senior maintenance engineer Upendra Lal Shrestha, senior meteorologist Mani Ratna Shakya and Ministry joint-secretary Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane.
Mustang is one of the mountainous and fifth-largest districts of the Himalayan nation which hosts the pilgrimage of Muktinath Temple. The district, also known as “Land beyond the Himalayas” is located in the Kali Gandaki Valley of the Himalayan region of Western Nepal.
ANI