Rescuers pull 21 dead bodies from Tara Air aircraft crash site in Nepal’s mountains

A total of 10 dead bodies are being brought to Kathmandu through a chopper of the Nepal Army for post-mortem at TU Teaching Hospital.

Wreckage of the aircraft. (Photo: Nepal Army)

NL Today

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Kathmandu: The dead bodies of 21 out of 22 people killed in the Tara Air aircraft crash in the Mustang district in western Nepal have been recovered from the site so far, officials said.

A total of 10 dead bodies are being brought to Kathmandu through a chopper of the Nepal Army, Tara Air said in a statement on Monday evening. The dead bodies will be taken to TU Teaching Hospital for post-mortem and will be then handed over to relatives.

[RelatedIn pics: Search operation underway at Tara Air aircraft crash site]

The rescue team is facing difficulties to take 10 dead bodies to a lower altitude owing to bad weather while a search for one is ongoing, reads the statement.

All people including three crew members were killed when an aircraft of Tara Air that flew to Jomsom from Pokhara crashed into a hill presumably due to bad weather on Sunday. The 9N-AET twin-engine aircraft was carrying 19 passengers including 13 Nepalis, four Indians, and two German nationals.

A team of Nepal Army and Nepal Police had reached the incident site at 7:50 am and carried out the search operation.

[RelatedIn pics: Search operation underway at Tara Air aircraft crash site]

Issuing a press statement, the airline company said that it was shocked to say that the wreckages of the missing plane were found at an altitude of 14,500 feet.

A preliminary investigation into the Tara Air aircraft crash has pointed out bad weather as the reason for the crash.

[Related: Govt forms five-member commission to probe Tara Air aircraft crash]

Speaking at the International Relations Committee of the Legislature-Parliament on Monday, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Pradeep Adhikari said the aircraft crashed into the hill after it failed to navigate due to bad weather.