Small Nepal Plane With 21 Passengers Gone Missing
A small passenger plane reportedly crash in the Himalayan nation of Nepal carrying a crew of three along with 20 passengers who flew between mountains in an area popular among tourists.
"All 23 people, including three crew members and two infants, who were on board the ill-fated Tara Twin-Otter plane, were killed in the crash at a remote location in Myagdi district of western Nepal," as reported by The Himalayan Times after quoting statements from local civil aviation authorities.
Weather disturbance was cited as the cause of the crash just a few minutes after taking off from Pokhara City.
The weather was not so clear. Snowfall, rain and thick fog are responsible for the crash," remarked minister for civil aviation Ananda Prasad Pokharel in a report by the New York Times.
According to a report by CNN, the Tara Air plane crashed into a mountainous terrain some 16, 000 ft. above sea level which is covered in thick fog. So far, 19 bodies were recovered in an ongoing retrieval operation but authorities added that the corpses were burned 'beyond recognition'.
A report by NPR also added that two passengers were identified as foreigners- a Chinese woman and a Kuwaiti man. Furthermore, the plane appeared to new with less than 300 recorded flying hours.
For a long time, Nepal has been notorious for its poor aviation safety. But efforts to improve flying safety have been reportedly producing good outcomes. Nepali media note that the ill-fated Wednesday crash was first of a scheduled flight in nearly two years.
