Nepalese rescue teams on Monday recovered 16 bodies from the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed in the Himalayas on Sunday with 22 people on board, officials said.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane, a Twin Otter from Nepalese company Tara Air, shortly after it took off from Pokhara in western Nepal on Sunday morning.
The plane was headed to Jomsom, a popular hiking destination.
Helicopters operated by the Army and private companies braved bad weather on Sunday to search this remote mountainous area, aided by teams on foot, but had to call off the search at nightfall.
This Monday the search resumed and the Army published a photo of aircraft parts and other debris scattered on the steep mountainside, including a wing with the registration 9N-AET clearly visible.
“So far 16 bodies have been recovered and teams are searching for the remaining six. The chances of survival are slim, but our efforts to find them continue,” Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Deo Chandra told AFP news agency. Lal Karn.
About 60 people worked at the accident site, including military, police, mountain guides and locals, most of them traveling kilometers on foot to get there.
The authorities indicated that the plane “had an accident” at an altitude of 14,500 feet (4,420 meters), in the Sanosware area of the town of Thasang, in the Mustang district.
“Analysing the images we have received, it appears that the flight did not catch fire. Everything is scattered on the spot. The plane appears to have collided with a large rock on the hill,” Pokhara airport spokesman Dev Raj Subedi said.
The damaged plane was manufactured by the Canadian company De Havilland and made its first flight more than 40 years ago, in 1979.
Tara Air is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines, a privately owned national airline that flies to remote destinations in Nepal.
His last fatal accident was in 2016 on the same route, when a plane with 23 people on board crashed into the side of a mountain in Myagdi district.
