May 31, 2022
KATHMANDU – Rescuers pulled out 20 bodies from the crash site of Tara Air as they continued to scour the area on Monday afternoon for the remaining two.
Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson for Tara Air, told the Post that out of the total recovered bodies, 10 have been brought to Kowang, the base from where the rescue is conducted.
“The search and rescue teams are scouring the area for the remaining two bodies,” he said. “There are around 100 people at the crash site including officials of the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police, mountaineering rescue officials and locals searching for the remaining bodies.”
Pieces of the wreckage of the passenger plane that crashed on Sunday morning were found in Sano Sware Bhir of Thasang in Mustang district in northwestern Nepal, after nearly 20 hours since the plane went missing, early on Monday morning.
The bodies have been scattered over a 100-metre radius from the main impact point.
The airline and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal on Monday afternoon released the names of the deceased.
Tara Air has released the names of deceased people. Image via Yeit Airlines/Twitter
According to officials, the bodies would be airlifted to Kathmandu by 5pm today.
The Twin Otter aircraft of Tara Air with 22 people on board, including three members of the crew, had taken off at 9:55am from Pokhara on Sunday morning to Jomsom. It, however, lost contact with the air traffic controller about 12 minutes later at 10:07am, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Officials say the plane slammed into a mountain at 14,500 feet.
“The impact had blown the bodies all over the hill,” said Bartaula, the spokesperson of the airline.
Search and rescue teams were deployed immediately after the plane lost contact, but bad weather hampered operations.
The Nepal Army announced on Sunday evening that it was suspending search and rescue operations due to bad weather and failing light.
On Monday morning, Nepali Army Spokesperson Brigadier General Narayan Silwal shared an image of the wreckage of the plane on Twitter, confirming that the crash site was located.