News Analysis India

Tag: Nepal plane crash

  • Four of five Indians who died in plane crash in Nepal were planning to visit Pokhara for paragliding

    By PTI

    KATHMANDU: Of the five Indians who were feared dead in the plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, four were planning to participate in paragliding activities in the tourist hub of Pokhara, a local resident said.

    At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal’s resort city of Pokhara on Sunday, officials said.

    The five Indians were identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Bishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal, a Yeti Airlines official said.

    Among the five Indian nationals, four had just arrived in Kathmandu from India on Friday.

    “All the four were planning to enjoy paragliding in the lake city and tourist hub Pokhara,” recalled Ajay Kumar Shah, a resident of Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.

    “We came together from India in the same vehicle,” he said.

    “They stayed in Gaushala near Pashupatinath Temple and then in Hotel Discovery of Thamel, before departing to Pokhara,” he said.

    They were planning to return to India from Pokhara via Gorakhpur, he added.

    Sonu, the eldest among the Indian nationals, was a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

    Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed grief over the air crash and said “our thoughts are with the affected families”.

    “Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

    Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families. https://t.co/ebXxx4rCbo
    — Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 15, 2023
    Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia condoled the loss of lives in the plane crash in Nepal and termed it “extremely unfortunate”.

    KATHMANDU: Of the five Indians who were feared dead in the plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, four were planning to participate in paragliding activities in the tourist hub of Pokhara, a local resident said.

    At least 68 people were killed when a Yeti Airlines passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal’s resort city of Pokhara on Sunday, officials said.

    The five Indians were identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Bishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal, a Yeti Airlines official said.

    Among the five Indian nationals, four had just arrived in Kathmandu from India on Friday.

    “All the four were planning to enjoy paragliding in the lake city and tourist hub Pokhara,” recalled Ajay Kumar Shah, a resident of Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.

    “We came together from India in the same vehicle,” he said.

    “They stayed in Gaushala near Pashupatinath Temple and then in Hotel Discovery of Thamel, before departing to Pokhara,” he said.

    They were planning to return to India from Pokhara via Gorakhpur, he added.

    Sonu, the eldest among the Indian nationals, was a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

    Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed grief over the air crash and said “our thoughts are with the affected families”.

    “Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

    Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families. https://t.co/ebXxx4rCbo
    — Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 15, 2023
    Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia condoled the loss of lives in the plane crash in Nepal and termed it “extremely unfortunate”.

  • No info yet on when bodies of Thane residents who died in Nepal plane crash will arrive: Police

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Police have not yet received any communication on when the bodies of Thane resident Vaibhavi Bandekar Tripathy, her husband and two children, who died in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, will arrive in the adjoining city, an official said on Tuesday.

    According to the Thane police official, after receiving the news of the plane crash, they contacted Vaibhavi Tripathy’s elder sister.

    However, since then no relative of Vaibhavi Tripathy (51), who worked in a senior position at a financial firm at BKC in Mumbai, has approached the Kapurbawadi police station under whose jurisdiction the family’s residence is located.

    “All information about the dead bodies will be coming through the district collector’s office. So far, we have not received any intimation,” the official added.

    Vaibhavi Tripathy, who had separated from her estranged husband, resided in the Rustomjee Athena housing society in the Balkum area of Thane city along with their two children, son Dhanush (22) and daughter Ritika (15).

    Her husband Ashok Tripathy (54) runs a company in Odisha and her 80-year-old mother, who is in poor health, is the only person left at the family’s home, the official said.

    The couple had separated following court orders.

    According to terms of their separation, the family was to be together for 10 days in a year and this year they had planned a trip to Nepal.

    Their plane, belonging to private Tara Air, crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday morning, Nepalese officials have said.

    Besides the four Indian nationals, the Canadian-built turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane was carrying two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers, besides a three-member Nepali crew, and there were no survivors.

    All the 22 bodies have been recovered and brought to Kathmandu where the mortal remains would be handed over to their families after the post-mortem on Tuesday, the officials have said.

  • Nepal plane crash: Driver says he had dropped Tripathi family at Mumbai airport two days back

    By PTI

    THANE: For 29-year-old Ashish Sawant, it came as a big shock when he heard that four members of the Tripathi family, for whom he works as a driver here, were on board the plane that crashed in Nepal on Sunday, as recalled dropping them to the Mumbai airport just two days back.

    “I have lost everything,” he said with tears rolling down his cheeks even as the fate of the Tripathi family and 18 others on board the ill-fated plane remained unclear as bad weather made it difficult to locate the aircraft that went missing in the mountainous region of Nepal minutes after taking off on Sunday morning.

    According to the police here, Ashok Kumar Tripathi (54), his wife Vaibhavi (Bandekar) Tripathi, their 22-year-old son Dhanush and 15-year-old daughter Ritika were on board the Nepalese plane.

    Sawant, who resides at Diva in Thane, said he has been working as the Tripathi family’s driver for the last seven years and used to drop Vaibhavi Tripathi to her office in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai.

    “It was just two days back that I had dropped the family to the Mumbai international airport and today I received this shocking news,” he said.

    After learning that the Tripathi family was travelling in the plane in Nepal, he rushed to their house in Rustomjee Athena apartment located in Balkum area of the city, to enquire about them.

    He also said that it was just two months back they had purchased a new car.

    The watchman of the building, 55-year-old Sunil Chalke, said the Tripathi family members were very loving.

    “It is sad that they part of this tragedy,” he said.

    The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane belonging to Tara Air took off at 10.15 am from Pokhara in Nepal to Jomsom, another popular tourist town.

    The aircraft lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes later, according to an airline spokesperson.

    The missing plane could possibly be located on Monday, officials have said.