All 18 people on board the ill-fated Nepal Airlines Twin Otter that crashed at Masine Lek in Khanchikot VDC of Arghakhanchi on Sunday afternoon were killed. Early findings suggest that the aircraft must have stalled due to sudden drop in temperature due to snow and rain. 

With Sunday’s crash, Nepal now has lost the last of the airworthy Canadian-built propeller that was widely hailed as an ideal aircraft to serve Nepal’s difficult mountainous terrain. The 43-year-old aircraft does not have de-icing facility which is an integral part of modern planes applying instrumental flight rules, according to experts. 

Most of planes used by Nepal’s private airlines have an in-built de-icing technology that comes in handy when the aircraft encounters subzero temperatures. 

The crash site was located by a Nepal Army helicopter at 8:40am on Monday, almost 21 hours after the plane went missing on Sunday afternoon. The Army helicopter had first spotted the tail of the aircraft.

The bodies of the crash victims were retrieved from the 7,340-ft rugged hillside. An official at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) said that the impact of the plane had not deflected the tail section indicating that the plane made a vertical dive to the ground. 

“It has not been confirmed that the aircraft either hit the hill or it made a vertical dive,” said Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, chief of the air safety division at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. 

Another expert said that the aircraft might have stalled at much higher speed resulting to a vertical dive and it might have happened due to icing. “Snow or ice is considered very bad for engine performance as icing up the engine or blocking the engine’s air source causes engine stoppage,” the expert said. 

To prevent icing, pilots have to fly aircraft at a low altitude and it was not possible to fly the plane at the low level on such a high terrain. “Given the state of the aircraft and impact at the site, it can be assumed that the pilot flew the plane at the high altitude and suffered icing that led to engine stall.” 

Caan officials said that the details on whether the aircraft suffered from icing would be known from the cockpit voice recorder. The aircraft, however, does not have the flight data recorder.  

Officials deployed at the crash site said that bodies were scattered at around 300-metre radius and most of them were found in a gorge.

The area was covered with one-foot deep snow, making the rescue operation difficult. The inclement weather also prevented choppers from landing at the site. However, the rescue operation was conducted after 11:00 am. “Most of the bodies were retrieved from the gorge with the help of ropes and nets,” said Bimlesh Lal Karna, chief Air Traffic Controller at the Tribhuvan International Airport. 

Two officials from the Himalayan Rescue Association were also deployed for the recovery operation. The crash site lies 20-km away from the district headquarters, Sandhikharka. 

The Jumla-bound aircraft had gone missing half an hour after it took off from Pokhara Airport at 12:43am on Sunday.  

The aircraft with call sign 9N ABB that was scheduled to land at 1:45pm at Jumla Airport had last contacted air traffic control (ATC) tower of Bhairahawa at 1:13pm asking permission for diversion. 

Initial report suggests that bad weather was the primary cause behind the Sunday afternoon tragedy. Although the weather in Pokhara and Jumla airports was fair, the aircraft was caught up in the heavy rain, snow and hailstorm midway, officials said. 

“No one has understood why the pilot took such a risk without taking enroute information,” an aviation expert said. It was Captain Shrestha’s second flight on the day, after the earlier flight on Kathmandu-Khanidanda route was diverted due to bad weather. 

However, some government officials suspects that the captain was “under pressure” to fly despite knowing such bad weather condition, which normally is seen in the remote areas where people have to wait for a long time to get air seats particularly during monsoon and winter seasons. And political leaders and influential government officials are often reported to have put pressure on pilots to fly. “Although it’s difficult to substantiate such things in this case, trend of powerful persons imposing themselves on pilots and airlines management is not new to the civil aviation sector,” said Birendra Deuja, former director general of Caan. In fact, a number of government officials and a political leader were among the dead in Sunday’s crash.

According to Deuja, sometimes pilots are also forced to fly aircraft using special visual flight despite the poor visibility. “They know the risk but are unable to decline the orders made by powerful people.” 

The 2006 Ghunsa crash, off-the-record reports suggest, occurred due to insistence of a minister’s assistant that the minister had to return to Kathmandu for a meeting on the very day. The statement was later confirmed in the report ‘In Search of Safer Skies: A Report on Aviation Safety’ in 2008. 

“I would say many pilots lack professionalism,” Deuja added. “They have been given the command to take decisions on their own. But unfortunately, they are often guided by others’ interests.” 

Seven bodies identified

KATHMANDU: The bodies of all 18 victims of Sunday’s air crash were brought to Kathmandu on a Nepal Army (NA) helicopter on Monday. 

The bodies were taken to the Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) for autopsy and identification. Seven of the bodies had been identified as of the evening. They include NA Major Dipak Shrestha, Manav Sejuwal, Barsha Hamal, Sahis Hamal, Dibesh Shahi, Muna Maharjan, and Rajendra Chaulagain, police said.  

Most of the bodies whose identities the authorities have yet to ascertain have sustained burn injuries.   

“For the unidentified bodies, we have to take the help from the family members. See if they could recognise the victims based on their clothes and physical features,” said Ganesh KC, the spokesperson of Nepal Police.     

Doctors at the TUTH said they began the autopsy from the evening. To facilitate the identification of the unrecognised bodies, the hospital handed out ante-mortem forms to the relatives of the victims.  

“Information gained from the victim’s families will be vital for identifying the unrecognised bodies. But we cannot say immediately if DNA testing will be required for identification,” Dr Harihar Wosti of the TUTH Forensic Department said. “We are not in a position to comment on any victim just yet, as we require over one hour for each autopsy. We will give out the updates about the victims on Tuesday.” (PR)

Nepal plane crash timeline

n Aug 24, 2010: 14 people killed when an Agni Air Dornier crashes in Makwanpur

n Dec 15, 2010: Tara Air Twin Otter crashes in Shripur VDC of Okhaldhunga district, claiming 22 lives

n Sept 25, 2011: Buddha Air Beechcraft crashes at Kotdanda, in Lalitpur district, killing 19 

n Oct 18, 2011: Nepal Army RAN-49 BN2T plane crashes in Baglung, killing 6

n May 14, 2012: 15 killed when an Agni Air Dornier crashes in Jomsom

n Sept 28, 2012: Sita Air Dornier heading for Lukla crashes into Manohara River bank in Bhaktapur, killing 19 

n May 16, 2013: Nepal Airlines Twin Otter crashes at Jomsom Airport, no casualty

Panel to probe disaster

KATHMANDU: The government on Monday formed a four-man probe panel to investigate the ill-fated Nepal Airlines Twin Otter crash at Khanchikot VDC of Arghakhanchi on Sunday.

The panel, headed by former Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Tri Ratna Manandhar, has Captain Prabhakar Ghimire of Tara Air and MK Shrestha, aeronautical engineer of Fish Tail Air as members. Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint-secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry, has been named the member secretary of the panel. The commission will have to submit a report in 60 days.