POKHARA, NEPAL (AP) – Nepalese authorities yesterday began returning to families the bodies of victims of a flight that crashed on Sunday and said they were sending the aircraft’s data recorder to France for analysis as they try to determine what caused the country’s deadliest plane accident in 30 years.
The flight plummeted into a gorge on Sunday while on approach to land at the newly opened Pokhara International Airport in the foothills of the Himalayas, killing at least 70 of the 72 people aboard.
Searchers found the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder on Monday and combed through debris scattered down the 300-metre-deep gorge in search of the people who remain missing but are presumed dead.
One body was found yesterday, and two remain missing. A spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority Jagannath Niraula said the cockpit voice recorder would be analysed locally, but that the flight data recorder would be sent to France. The aircraft’s manufacturer, ATR, is headquartered in Toulouse.
The French air accident investigations agency confirmed it is taking part in the investigation, and its investigators are on site today.
The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, was completing the 27-minute flight from the capital, Kathmandu, to the resort town of Pokhara, 200 kilometres west.
It’s still not clear what caused the crash, which took place less than a minute’s flight from the airport in light wind and clear skies.
Aviation experts said it appears that the turboprop went into a stall at a low altitude on approach to the airport, but it is not clear why.
