Rescue op suspended, bodies of plane crash victims likely to be brought to Pokhara tomorrow; govt forms probe panel
KATHMANDU: The search and rescue operation was suspended in the remote Soli Ghoptebhir of Dana VDC in Myagdi district, where Tara Air's passenger aircraft fatally crashed earlier this morning, as weather condition deteriorated in the afternoon and night fell.
The search and rescue operation will resume and the bodies of victims will be brought to Pokhara tomorrow only, Rastriya Samachar Samiti reported.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has formed a five-member panel, led by former Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Rajesh Raj Dali, to look into the fatal air crash.
It includes Nepal Army Air Directorate's Colonel Deepak Banstola, Nepal Airlines Corporation's Captain Shrawan Rijal and Simrik Air's Senior Engineer Ram Prasad Koirala as members.
Joint-Secretary Suresh Acharya at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is Member-Secretary of the Commission.
The panel is mandated to submit the report within 90 days, according to a statement issued by the MoCTCA.
MoCTCA spokesperson Ghanashyam Upadhyaya said provisions of the Civil Aviation (Accident Investigation) Rules, Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and Article 26 of Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation 1944 would guide the investigation process.
The Commission is authorised to consult domestic and foreign experts if need be.
Rescuers have collected only 19 bodies out of 23 people who were on board the 9N-AHH Twin-Otter aircraft till this afternoon.
Deepak Baral, the chief of Pokhara Airport, told the state-run news agency that collected bodies could not be airlifted to Pokhara due to bad weather today.
According to him, bodies are scattered in a swathe of remote terrain in Soli Ghoptebhir.
Security personnel are collecting the bodies and it was likely that they would be brought to Pokhara by tomorrow morning.
Kith and kin of the victims gathered at the Pokhara Airport after the news of missing of the small aircraft that took off from Pokhara for Jomsom this morning.
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RSS correspondent reported from Myagdi that the collected bodies are yet to be moved down from the mountainous area while four bodies are yet to be found out.
The search and rescue mission had to be suspended as a dense fog covered the crash site, which lies in a gorge between two big mountains, and temperature dropped , according to Nepal Police's Constable Bijaya Sharma. The aircraft was completely burned after the crash and its wreckage has scattered in the area.
The crash site lies 40 km north of the district headquarters Beni. It takes five hours to reach there on foot from Kavre of Dana VDC.
Two of the passengers were foreigners, one each from China and Kuwait, while the rest, including three crew members, were Nepalis. The fatalities included two infants also. Seventeen out of 19 bodies, except of the infants, are charred beyond recognition, according to RSS.
