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Plane wreckage found in Nepal mountains, 21 bodies recovered

Published:Monday | May 30, 2022 | 1:06 PM
This handout photograph released by Fishtail Air, shows the wreckage of a plane in a gorge in Sanosware in Mustang district close to the mountain town of Jomsom, west of Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, May 30, 2022. The wreckage of a plane carrying 22 people that disappeared in Nepal's mountains was found Monday scattered on a mountainside, the army said. There was no word on survivors. (Fishtail Air via AP)

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers searching a mountainside in Nepal on Monday recovered the bodies of 21 of the 22 people who were on board a plane that crashed a day earlier, officials said.

The search is continuing for the remaining person, Kathmandu airport spokesman Tek Nath Sitaula said.

Recovery efforts were delayed because some bodies were pinned under the plane's wreckage.

Rescuers working with their bare hands had difficulty moving the metal debris.

Aerial photos of the crash site showed aircraft parts scattered on rocks and moss on the side of a mountain gorge.

The Tara Air turboprop Twin Otter lost contact with the airport tower on Sunday while flying on a scheduled 20-minute flight in an area of deep river gorges and mountaintops.

Relatives waited most of the day at the airport for news of their loved ones.

Four Indians and two Germans were on the plane, Tara Air said.

The three crew members and other passengers were Nepali nationals, it said.

German news agency dpa reported that the two Germans were a man and a woman from the western state of Hesse.

“Unfortunately, we have to assume at this point that the two people are no longer alive,” dpa quoted a spokesperson for the Hesse state interior ministry as saying.

“On the part of the Hessian police, relatives have already been informed and care measures initiated.”

Local news reports said the passengers included two Nepali families, one with four members and the other with seven.

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