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Foreign experts team in Pokhara for plane crash investigation
Experts say the accident was a terrible disaster because the plane plunged in clear weather for no apparent reason.Post Report
A team of foreign experts arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to support the investigation of Yeti Airlines Flight 691 that crashed on Sunday morning just before landing in the new airport, killing 71 people on board. One person is still unaccounted for.
There are a total of 11 foreign experts—four from the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents.
Similarly, six are from the aircraft manufacturer ATR, a Franco-Italian joint venture headquartered in Blagnac, France, and one expert from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA ), an agency of the European Union (EU) responsible for civil aviation safety.
They travelled to Pokhara on Tuesday evening and were accompanied by another 11-member Nepali team—five of whom were from the investigation commission formed by the Nepal government.
“The experts will support Nepal’s investigation team,” said Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint secretary at the Civil Aviation Ministry.
According to him, the commission has received both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR).
“We will examine the CVR in Kathmandu, while the FDR will be sent abroad as we don’t have the facility to examine the recording here,” according to Lamichhane. “We have not yet decided to which country we should send the FDR.”
“The foreign experts will make safety recommendations based on what is learned from those investigations,” said Lamichhane.
Experts in Kathmandu have said the accident was a terrible disaster because the plane plunged in clear weather for no apparent reason.
There are many questions unanswered.
Meanwhile, Nepali authorities handed over the bodies of those killed to their family members in Pokhara.
In Kathmandu, according to Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson of Yeti Airlines, 48 bodies were airlifted and taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital for postmortem.
“As it will take time to complete the postmortem, the bodies will be provided to the family members on Wednesday.”
Assistant Chief District Officer of Kaski Anil Kumar Shahi said that the body of one more victim was found on Tuesday afternoon.
“The body of one of the two missing victims has been found. The body was found after the flow of the river was reduced,” said Shahi.
Rescuers have been struggling to recover the remaining one body due to the difficult terrain.
Officials said that rescuers also recovered some body parts and a skeleton at the crash site on Tuesday and they were sent for the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing, in Kathmandu.