The wreckage of a Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air, lay on a mountainside in Mustang on May 30, 2022, a day after it crashed. Nepali rescuers pulled 14 bodies on May 30 from the mangled wreckage of a passenger plane strewn across a mountainside that went missing in the Himalayas with 22 people on board. (BISHAL MAGAR / AFP)
KATHMANDU – Twenty-one bodies have been recovered from the crash site of a Nepali passenger plane in a remote hilly area in Nepal's Mustang district, a local government official said on Monday.
"Twenty-one dead bodies have been recovered while one remains missing," Netra Prasad Sharma, chief district official of Mustang, told Xinhua.
Ten bodies have been sent to Kathmandu in a helicopter, the official said.
The Twin Otter plane went missing on Sunday morning minutes after it took off from the Nepali city of Pokhara for Jomsom in Mustang district. The Nepal Army, which is leading the search and rescue effort, found the crash site on Monday morning
The Twin Otter plane went missing on Sunday morning minutes after it took off from the Nepali city of Pokhara. The Nepal Army, which is leading the search and rescue effort, found the crash site on Monday morning.
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Nineteen passengers, among them 13 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans, were aboard the plane along with three crew members, said Tara Air, the operator of the flight.
Indra Singh Sherchan, a hotelier at the crash site, said the site is located at 4,100 meters above sea level and the bodies were scattered here and there on the cliff.
"As the plane didn't catch fire, the faces can be identified," he told Xinhua.
The plane was bound for Jomsom in Mustang district, about 80 km northwest of Pokhara, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site.
An 11-member rescue team is at the crash site recovering the victims' bodies, and due to bad weather conditions no other teams have been able to fly to the site, Netra Prasad Sharma, chief district officer of Mustang, told Xinhua.
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"The place is cloudy, leading to poor visibility," he said.
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said the aircraft, with registration number 9N-AET, made its first flight in April 1979.
Deo Chandra Lal Karna, a spokesperson for the CAAN, said five helicopters were ready to help with the rescue process.
Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mt. Qomolangma, known in the West as Mt Everest, has a record of air accidents.
Family members and relatives of passengers on board the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air, weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29, 2022. (YUNISH Gurung / AFP)
Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically located in mountainous areas that are hard to reach.
In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
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