By Our Reporter
Nepali people were shocked again when an aircraft of Tara Airlines heading to Mustang from Pokhara crashed killing all 22 on broad Sunday morning in a Mustang village six minutes before it was to land at Jomsom Airport.
The crash of the Twin Otter aircraft with call sign 9N-AET has come as a blow for the government when it was exercising to delist the Nepali airlines from the blacklist of the European Union. The EU had imposed a ban on Nepali airlines in its sky citing the safety measure although the main reason for the ban, many argue, was the purchase of Chinese aircraft by Nepal a few years back.
As the plane crashed at a very difficult topography north of Dhawalagiri mountain, in central Nepal, it took three days for the Nepali Army and other security agency personnel to collect and transport the bodies of the victim to Kathmandu.
Of the 19 passengers killed, 13 were Nepali, four Indians and two Germans. Three others were crew members.
The bodies of all 22 victims were brought to Kathmandu on Monday and Tuesday.
Twelve of them were brought to Kathmandu on Monday and 10 on Sunday.
The bodies of all 22 people killed in the crash were airlifted to Kathmandu by MI-17 helicopter of the Nepali Army. All the bodies were sent to TU Teaching Hospital. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has stated that all the bodies will be handed over to relatives after postmortem at the hospital.
The bodies which were recovered late on Monday were brought to Kowang, down to the crash site and later airlifted to Kathmandu.
The crew members who have lost life include - Captain Prabhakar Prasad Ghimire, first officer Utsav Pokhrel, air hostess Kismi Thapa and Captain Basanta Lama as a passenger.
Similarly, Nepali national passengers killed in the tragedy include - Indra Bahadur Gole, Purushottam Gole, Rajan Kumar Gole, Ram Maya Tamang, Tulasha Devi Tamang, Makar Bahadur Tamang and Sukumaya Tamang. They were all from the same family of Mithila Municipality of Dhanusha district.
Similarly, another four members of the same family of Gorkha were killed in the crash. They include Ganesh Narayan Shrestha, his wife Rashmi Shrestha and their daughters Rojina and Rabina Shrestha, and Prakash Kunwar.
The two daughters Rabina and Rojina, students in the US, were visiting Nepal during which the family decided to travel to Pokhara.
Likewise, the four Indian nationals are identified as Ashok Tripathi, Vaibhavi Bandekar Tripathi and their son Dhanush, and daughter Ritika from Thane city of India.
Similarly, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has stated that German nationals Mick Grat and Yuvi Wilner died in the crash.
The government, as usual, has formed a probe to investigate the crash.
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