EeHH.CO.UK

Foreign nationals among 40 people killed in Nepal plane crash

Foreign nationals are among at least 40 people have died after an aircraft crashed in central Nepal on Sunday morning while flying a route popular with tourists trekking in the Himalayas.

Rescuers gather at the site of a plane crash in Pokhara - AFP© AFP

A video shared on social media showed the Yeti Airlines plane, which was flying from Kathmandu to the city of Pokhara and had 72 people on board, spinning sharply at a low altitude.

Further images then showed burning debris and smoke rising from the crash site on a hillside in the gorge of the Seti River, several miles from Pokhara International Airport, which had only just opened.

An army spokesman said they “expect to recover more bodies” as rescue operations continue and Nepal’s Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, urged the general public to help with relief efforts. 

Out of the 68 passengers and four crew on board, 53 are said to be Nepalese with a further 15 foreign nationals, including five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans and one passenger each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France. It is not yet known if there are British victims. 

Rescue teams work to retrieve bodies at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara© Provided by The Telegraph

Pokhara International Airport had only begun operations on January 1 and is the country’s third international airport, as it aims to boost trade and tourism.

More than 600,000 tourists visited Nepal in 2022 to seek adventure in its vast Himalayan mountain range and experience its spectacular cities.

Many will take the 30-minute flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara as the latter is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular Himalayan hiking trail, as well as being a hub for extreme sports like paragliding and bungee jumping.

The “weather was clear” and the immediate cause of the crash is unknown, said Jagannath Niroula, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. 

Nepal has one of the worst aircraft safety records in the world and fatal crashes are commonplace, with the European Commission imposing a blanket ban on Nepalese airlines entering European airspace in 2013.

The ban came after a twin-engine Sita Air flight crashed outside of Kathmandu in 2012, killing everyone on board, including seven Brits.  

A Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500 aircraft© Provided by The Telegraph

There have been at least 27 plane crashes in Nepal over the past three decades and 20 of them have occurred over the last ten years.

In May 2022, a Tara Air plane crashed in the mountainous Mustang district of Nepal, killing all 22 passengers on board, including German and Indian tourists.

Flying in Nepal is particularly dangerous because the weather can change suddenly in the Himalayas resulting in low visibility, there is a lack of new aircraft and poor maintenance of existing planes and airstrips are often situated in difficult-to-reach mountainous areas.

But, the country has a poor road network and so Nepalese and tourists alike are forced to rely on aircraft to travel around the remote Himalayan nation.

Tenzing-Hillary Airport in the northeastern town of Lukla, which serves as an entry point for those climbing Mount Everest, is considered to be the world's most dangerous airport.

Hemmed in by the Himalayas, meaning landings have to be navigated by the pilot’s sight, it also has one of the world’s shortest runways which ends over a steep, vertical drop.