The rescue teams found on Monday the black boxes of the plane that crashed this Sunday in Nepal with 72 people on board, Official sources informed Efe that they have so far recovered 68 bodies.
According to the spokesman for the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Prem Nath Thakur, the operators recovered the black boxes from the aircraft this morning shortly after resuming the rescue work with which they try to find the bodies of the last missing passengers.
This finding will help to clarify the causes of the incident, since the boxes record technical information such as the plane’s course, speed, altitude and engine status before crashing, as well as the voice recordings inside the cockpit of the pilots.
mourning in nepal
Nepal declared a day of national mourning on Monday after the air disaster in which at least 69 people died, including an Argentine, in the worst catastrophe of its kind in the country in three decades.
“We are praying for a miracle. But the hope of finding someone alive is nil,” said Tek Bahadur KC, head of the Taksi district in Pokhara (downtown), where the plane crashed on Sunday with 72 people on board, 68 passengers and four crew members.
The twin-engine ATR 72 of the Yeti Airlines company coming from Kathmandu fell to the ground shortly before eleven in the morning local time close to Pokhara airport, gateway for trekkers from all over the world.
The burning aircraft was found in a 300 meter deep precipice, between the old airport built in 1958 and the new international terminal inaugurated on January 1.
(In addition: Video: portable charger exploded on the plane and caused a fire before taking off)
Soldiers used ropes to retrieve the bodies from the bottom of the ravine.
On board the plane were 15 foreigners: five citizens of India, four Russians, two Koreans, one Argentine, one Australianan Irishman and a Frenchman, said the airline’s spokesman, Sudarshan Bardaula.
The Argentine passenger was identified as Jannet Sandra Palavecino, 58, mother of two daughters and a native of the province of Neuquén (southwest), according to the newspaper La Nación of Buenos Aires.
After the accident, rescuers tried to put out the fire among the remains of the device, powered by two turboprop engines.
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Why did the accident happen?
The reason for the crash is not yet known, but a video shared on social media shows the plane flying low over a residential area before banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.
Greg Waldon, an expert in the aviation sector, told AFP that when he saw the video it seemed to him that one of the wings of the plane suddenly “stalled”, that is to say, it lost the aerodynamic capacity to keep the machine in the air.
“When you’re at low altitude and you’re dealing with an incident like that … it’s a very serious problem,” said Waldon, Asia editor for FlightGlobal.
In a statement dated Toulouse, in southwestern France, ATR, the plane’s manufacturer, specified that it was a 72-500 model, adding that its specialists were “fully committed to supporting both the investigation and the client.” Yeti Airlines.
Nepal’s aviation sector has grown a lot in recent years, both in the transport of goods and tourists.
Nevertheless, Due to lack of staff training and maintenance issues, companies often suffer from security issues. The European Union therefore prohibited all Nepalese carriers from entering its airspace.
The Himalayan country also boasts some of the most remote and tricky tracks in the world, flanked by snow-capped peaks that make approaching them challenging even for experienced pilots.
Nepal does not have the infrastructure to make accurate weather forecasts
The companies indicate that Nepal does not have the infrastructure to establish accurate weather forecasts, particularly in the most remote regions and with difficult mountainous relief, where fatal accidents have been recorded in recent years.
Sunday’s is the deadliest accident in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed near Kathmandu.
In May 2022, the 22 people who were traveling on board a plane of the Nepalese company Tara Air -16 Nepalese, four Indians and two Germans- died when the device crashed.
In March 2018, 51 people were killed in the crash of a US-Bangla Airlines plane that crashed near Kathmandu International Airport, in a notoriously difficult situation.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
*With information from AFP and EFE
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