Foreign

Avalanche Kills Seven Climbers in Nepal

By Web News 223

Expedition agency Seven Summit Treks has said at least seven climbers, including five foreigners and two Nepalis, have died after being hit by an avalanche on a Himalayan peak in north-eastern Nepal.

The incident happened at 09:00 local time (03:15 GMT) on Monday near the base camp of the Yalung Ri mountain in Dolakha district.

Rescuers located two bodies, and are still searching for the remaining five, who are believed to have been buried by snow. Eight others have been rescued and are in the capital Kathmandu getting treatment for their injuries.

All these climbers were part of a group that set out over an hour before the avalanche hit, the district police chief told BBC Nepali.

The bodies of the other five deceased climbers “may be 10-15 feet below the snow”, said Mingma Sherpa, Chairman of Seven Summit Treks. “It will take time to find them.”

Those killed include two Italians, a Canadian, a German, a French, and two Nepalis who served as guides.

Local deputy superintendent of Police Gyan Kumar Mahato told the BBC on Monday that a rescue helicopter had landed in the Na Gaun area of Dolakha – a five-hour walk from the Yalung Ri base camp.

One of the injured climbers told The Kathmandu Post that they had repeatedly called for help, to no avail. “Had the rescue arrived on time, more lives could have been saved,” he told the Nepali newspaper.

Separately, attempts to rescue two Italian climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the Panbari mountain in western Nepal are continuing.

Stefano Farronato and Alessandro Caputo were part of a three-man group that became stranded along with three local guides last week. The third member of the group, named in media reports as Velter Perlino, 65, has since been rescued.

Autumn is a popular season for trekkers and mountaineers in Nepal as weather conditions and visibility have tended to be better. However, the risk of severe weather and avalanches remains.

Last week, Cyclone Montha triggered heavy rain and snowfall across Nepal, stranding people in the Himalayas.

Two British and one Irish woman were among a group that had to be rescued after being trapped for several days in the western Mustang region.

Severe weather also left hundreds of hikers stranded near Mount Everest in October.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko

Foreign

Nepal Plane Crash: Hope Dims on Finding Survivors

By Web News 456

Searchers say they have given up hope of finding survivors after Nepal’s worst air disaster in decades.

Local official, Tek Bahadur said the chances of finding anyone alive were “nil”. However the plane’s flight data and voice recorders had been found, he said.

There were 72 passengers and crew aboard the Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to the tourist town of Pokhara which crashed on Sunday.

It is unclear what caused the crash.

“We have collected 68 bodies so far. We are searching for four more bodies,” said Mr Bahadur, a Chief District Officer in the Taksi district.

It is the country’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years.

Mobile Phone Footage showed the Yeti Airlines flight rolling sharply as it approached the airport. It then hit the ground in the gorge of the Seti River, just over a kilometre from the airport.

There were 72 passengers and crew on board the flight.

On Monday some 300 rescuers resumed their search, combing through the charred wreckage.

The Prime Minister of Nepal has declared Monday a national day of mourning, and the government set up a panel to investigate the cause of the disaster.

Local Resident, Divya Dhakal told the BBC how she rushed to the crash site after seeing the aircraft plunge from the sky shortly after 11:00am local time (05:15 GMT).

“By the time I was there the crash site was already crowded. There was huge smoke coming from the flames of the plane. And then helicopters came over in no time,” she said.

“The Pilot tried his best to not hit civilisation or any home,” she added. “There was a small space right beside the Seti River and the flight hit the ground in that small space.”

Aviation accidents are not uncommon in Nepal, often due to its remote runways and sudden weather changes that can make for hazardous conditions.

This Himalayan nation, home to some of the most breathtaking mountains in the world, has some of the most difficult terrains to navigate.

A lack of investment in new aircraft and poor regulation has also been blamed in the past.

The European Union has banned Nepalese airlines from its airspace over concerns about training and maintenance standards.

In May 2022, a Tara Air plane crashed in Northern Nepal, killing 22 people. Four years earlier 51 people were killed when a flight travelling from Bangladesh caught fire as it landed in Kathmandu.

BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi

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Foreign

68 Dead As Nepal Plane Crashes Minutes Before Landing

By Web News 581

At least 68 people died on Sunday morning in Nepal after a plane carrying about 72 people from capital Kathmandu crashed in Pokhara.

According to news agency, AFP, while quoting the police, said there were 68 passengers and four crew members on board the plane that crashed between the old and new airports in the city, located in western Nepal.

The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines was en route from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

53 Nepali, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentine, and one each from Ireland, Australia, and France were in the plane, the airlines said in a statement.

“Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were found in the gorge where the aircraft crashed.

Rescue operations have been difficult because of a raging fire at the wreckage.

Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ called an emergency cabinet meeting soon after the crash, and the Nepal government has formed a five-member commission of inquiry to probe the incident.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am.

The plane was close to landing at the Pokhara airport, when it crashed into a river gorge on the bank of the Seti River.

The crash happened around 20 minutes after the take-off, suggesting the aircraft might have been on the descent.

The flight time between the two cities is 25 minutes.”We don’t know right now if there are survivors,” the airline’s spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula told news agency AFP.

AFP/NDTV/Olaolu Fawole

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