68 killed in Yeti Airline planecrash in Nepal: Rescue official :4 of 5 Indians on board plane that crashed in Nepal hailed from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh

PTI, KATHMANDU, JAN 15, 2023: Atleast 68 people were killed when a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal's resort city of Pokhara on Sunday, a rescue official said.

Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

"So far, dead bodies of 68 people have been recovered from the crash site," an official at the Search and Rescue Coordination Committee of the CAAN told PTI over the phone. However, the dead bodies are yet to be identified, he added. Efforts are on to recover four more bodies, he said. Foreign nationals onboard the plane included five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, an Australian, a French, an Argentine and an Israeli. There is no information about any survivor so far, said Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson at Yeti Airlines.

"The weather in Pokhara was absolutely fine and the engine of the aircraft was also in good condition," he said. "We don't know what has happened to the airplane," he said. However, some local media reported that the aircraft took a wider turn while attempting to land, which may have caused the accident. It was a new airport built under a Chinese soft loan and inaugurated just two weeks ago. 

The five Indians have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal.

Of the five Indians who were feared dead in the plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, four were planning to participate in paragliding activities in the tourist hub of Pokhara, a local resident said. 

The five Indians were identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Bishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal, a Yeti Airlines official said. Among the five Indian nationals, four had just arrived in Kathmandu from India on Friday. “All the four were planning to enjoy paragliding in the lake city and tourist hub Pokhara,” recalled Ajay Kumar Shah, a resident of Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.

“We came together from India in the same vehicle, he said. “They stayed in Gaushala near Pashupatinath Temple and then in Hotel Discovery of Thamel, before departing to Pokhara,” he said. They were planning to return to India from Pokhara via Gorakhpur, he added. Sonu, the eldest among the Indian nationals, was a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. 4 of 5 Indians on board plane that crashed in Nepal hailed from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed grief over the air crash and said "our thoughts are with the affected families". "Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

Thirty-five-year-old Sonu Jaiswal, a liquor store owner who was among the five Indians killed in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, had gone to pay obeisance at the famed Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu after his wish for a son was fulfilled around six months ago, his relative said.

As the news of the death of Jaiswal and three friends accompanying him reached Chak Jainab village in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, the shocked villagers gathered at his house.

Jaiswal has two daughters and he took a vow to visit the Lord Pashupatinath Temple if he had a son, his relative and Chak Jainab village head Vijay Jaiswal told PTI.