The government has announced a national day of mourning on Monday to mourn the loss of lives in the Yeti Airlines aircraft crash in Pokhara on Sunday.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had called an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following the tragedy and announced the public holiday.

The Cabinet meeting has formed a five-member probe committee under Nagendra Ghimire, former secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, to investigate the accident.

Likewise, the government has also directed that every domestic airline’s aircraft undergo rigorous inspections before taking a flight.

As of 2:30pm, 29 bodies were recovered from the incident site and rescuers are working to pull out another 14 bodies.

An ATR 72 aircraft of Yeti Airlines with registration number 9N-ANC that took off for Pokhara from Kathmandu at 10:30am crashed at Nayagaun.

A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft that crashed between the old airport and the Pokhara International Airport, Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Yeti Airlines, told the Post.

Among the passengers are three infants, three children and 62 adults. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the passengers included 53 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, one Australian, one Argentinian, two Koreans and one French. Two helicopters were deployed from Pokhara airport while additional choppers are on standby in Kathmandu, CAAN said in a press release.

Meanwhile, PM Dahal is heading to Pokhara to take stock of the situation and express condolences to the families of the victims.