By PTI
KATHMANDU: Inclement weather was the reason behind the crash of the Tara Air plane in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district on Sunday with 22 people on board, including four Indians, according to a preliminary investigation carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
The Canadian-built turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane went missing on Sunday morning in the mountainous region of Nepal minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara.
The plane was carrying four Indians, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers, besides a three-member Nepali crew.
The government has formed a five-member commission of inquiry headed by senior aeronautical engineer Ratish Chandra Lal Suman to find out the cause of the Tara Air plane crash, officials said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the aircraft had crashed into the mountains after it swerved to the right, instead of turning to the left due to inclement weather, CAAN Director-General Pradeep Adhikari said during a meeting of the International Committee of the Parliament on Monday.
The wreckage of the airplane was found on Monday morning at the Sanusare cliff at Thasang rural municipality-2 of Mustang district.
The crash site is situated at a distance of eight nautical miles from the Jomsom Airport.
Rescuers have so far pulled out 20 bodies from the wreckage of the crashed plane.
One more body has been spotted but due to rain and difficult terrain it’s not been retrieved yet, the spokesman said, adding that one person was still missing.
The spokesperson said that 10 bodies were brought to Kathmandu, while 10 bodies were taken to Pokhara from where they would be brought to Kathmandu.
In a statement, the CAAN earlier said that the plane had crashed at Thasang-2 in Mustang district at the height of 14,500 feet.
The airline’s passengers list identified four Indians as Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathy) and their children Dhanush and Ritika.
The family was based in Thane city near Mumbai.
Their family members from India are waiting in Kathmandu for identification of bodies.
Pieces of the wreckage of the aircraft were found after nearly 20 hours since the plane went missing, the Nepal Army said on Monday.
The plane took off at 9:55 am from Pokhara and lost contact with air control about 12 minutes later at 10:07am, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents.
In 2016, all 23 people aboard were killed when a plane of the same airline flying the same route crashed after takeoff.
A plane flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed near Jomsom airport on May 14, 2012, killing 15 people.
Tara Air is the newest and biggest airline service provider in the Nepalese mountains, according to the airline website.
It started its business in 2009 with the mission of helping develop rural Nepal.
