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CatastropheNepal

Black box and voice recorder retrieved from Nepal crash site

January 16, 2023

It remains unclear what caused the plane to go down shortly before landing at an airport in the resort town of Pokhara. The crash is Nepal's worst aviation disaster since 1992.

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Rescuers scour the crash site in the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara, Nepal
Rescuers were battling cloudy weather and poor visibility as they scoured the river gorge for passengers who are unaccounted forImage: Yunish Gurung/AP Photo/picture alliance

Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority on Monday said the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Pokhara have been recovered.

The plane was en route from Kathmandu and went down on approach to a newly opened airport in the tourist town of Pokhara on Sunday, killing at least 69 of the 72 people aboard.

The data on the recorders may help investigators determine what caused the country's deadliest aviation accident in three decades.

Both recorders were in good shape and will be sent for analysis based on the recommendation of the manufacturer of the ATR 72 aircraft, said Kathmandu airport official Teknath Sitaula.

The aviation authority said it had inspected all ATR 72 and ATR 42 aircraft that are operating in the country and had found no technical issues.

Three passengers still missing

Rescuers called off their recovery operations on Monday, saying the search would resume again on Tuesday.

The aircraft went down in a gorge near the Seti River, nearly one mile (1.6 kilometers) from Pokhara International Airport.

In an update, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said out of the 72 people on board, 69 bodies had been retrieved and 41 were identified.

Three passengers were still unaccounted for, although rescuers said it is unlikely that they are still alive.

"We pray for a miracle. But, the hope of finding anyone alive is nil," said senior local official Tek Bahadur KC.

Debris from the airliner was strewn across the crash site, including the mangled remains of passenger seats and the plane's white-colored fuselage.

A woman wails as she waits to receive the body of a relative, victim of a plane crash, at a hospital in Pokhara, Nepal
Relatives and friends of victims, many of whom were from Pokhara, consoled each other as they waitedImage: Yunish Gurung/AP Photo/picture alliance

Agonizing wait for relatives

Nepal declared a day of national mourning on Monday and set up a panel to investigate the disaster.

Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said there were 15 foreigners on board: five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina, and France. The rest were Nepalis.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Pokhara Academy of Health and Science, Western Hospital, where the bodies were being kept.

The bodies will be handed over to their families once officials finish post-mortem reports, police said.

The remains of foreigners, and those which are unable to be identified, will be sent to Kathmandu for further examination. 

rs, lo/ar (AFP, AP, Reuters)