Nepal plane crash: Both black boxes recovered from accident site

KATHMANDU: The black boxes of the Yeti Airlines aircraft have been recovered from the accident site on Monday, officials said, a day after the plane with 72 people, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in the resort city of Pokhara, killing at least 68 people onboard.

The accident took place on Sunday, the Himalayan nation's deadliest aviation accident in over 30 years.

The black box of the crashed aircraft has been found at the accident site and it has already been handed over to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said a spokesperson at Yeti Airlines Sudarshan Bartaula.

Both black boxes from the crashed Yeti Airlines flight in Nepal have been discovered, Kathmandu airport officials said.

The Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was carrying 72 people four crew members and 68 passengers, including five Indians when it crashed near the airport of the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday in clear weather conditions.

Both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered today as search and rescue teams rappelled down a 300-meter gorge to continue their efforts, which were suspended overnight.

All the preparations for conducting a postmortem on the dead bodies have been completed and the process will start soon, he said.

A medical team has been airlifted from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. As soon as they reach Pokhara, the postmortem will start at Western Regional Hospital in Pokhara, he added.

So far, 68 dead bodies have been recovered from the accident site and a search is going on for the remaining four bodies. As the accident site lies in a deep gorge of Seti river, it was very difficult for search operations, Nepal Army sources said.