Locals watch the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara, Nepal. AP
Kathmandu: After Monday’s horrific air crash in Nepal that led to the death of 70 people, rescue personnel have begun using drones and tunnelling down a gorge at least 200 metres deep in Nepal’s second-biggest city on Tuesday to look for two people who are still missing.
Sunday’s air crash was the Himalayan country’s deadliest plane crash in nearly 30 years and killed at least 70 people on board.
Bad weather and rocky mountainous terrain have been hampering rescue efforts near Pokhara, where the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop carrying 72 people crashed in clear weather on Sunday minutes before landing.
“There is thick fog here now. We are sending search and rescue personnel using ropes into the gorge where parts of the plane fell and was in flames,” Ajay K.C., a police official in Pokhara who is part of the rescue efforts said. Searchers found two more bodies on Monday before the search was called off because of fading light.
“There were small children among the passengers. Some might have been burnt and died, and may not be found out. We will continue to look for them,” K.C. said.
According to an airport official, 48 bodies were brought to capital Kathmandu on Tuesday and sent to a hospital for post mortem examinations, while 22 bodies were being handed over to families in Pokhara.
Rescue personnel in protective gear helped move the bodies to stretchers after which they were flown to Kathmandu. On Monday, searchers found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft, both in good condition, a discovery that is likely to help investigators determine what caused the crash.
Under international aviation rules, the crash investigation agencies of the countries where the plane and engines were designed and built are automatically part of the investigation. ATR is based in France and the plane’s engines were manufactured in Canada by Pratt & Whitney Canada (RTX.N).
French and Canadian air accident investigators have said they plan to be actively involved in the probe.
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