On May 29, a Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft carrying 19 passengers and 3 crew members took off from Pokhara city, central Nepal and headed to Jomsom, a famous tourist destination.
The flight was scheduled to take about 30 minutes, but the plane crashed in bad weather. Officials said the passengers included 13 Nepalese, four Hindu pilgrims from India and two Germans. The plane crashed near Mount Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak at about 8,167m.
The plane crashed near the Himalayas.
Nepalese officials said the cause of the crash was not immediately clear. They said the most likely scenario was that the plane crashed into a mountain after losing contact with air traffic controllers while navigating through particularly bad weather conditions.
After a day of searching, Nepalese officials said they had found 21 of the 22 victims on the DHC-6 Twin Otter plane that crashed into a mountainside in the Himalayas.
“There are no survivors, the plane has crashed and broken into pieces. It is very heartbreaking,” said Narendra Shahi, an international mountain guide who was sent to the crash site to assist in the rescue efforts.
The Nepalese army has deployed search and rescue measures.
"The search and rescue team has located the actual crash site," Nepalese army spokesman Narayan Silwal wrote on Twitter, posting images of the scene showing parts of the plane scattered on the edge of a mountain. The plane's registration number 9N-AET is clearly visible in the photo.
Netra Prasad Sharma, the district administrator of Mustang, where the accident occurred, said 21 bodies had been recovered and rescue teams were searching for the remaining bodies. Rescue operations were suspended late in the afternoon because of bad weather.
Earlier, rain and fog had made it difficult for rescuers to reach the site. Helicopters deployed by the Nepal Army and private companies on May 29 were diverted to the capital Kathmandu and Pokhara because of low visibility.
So far 21 bodies have been found in the area.
Nepal, a country with much of its territory in the Himalayas, has recorded many plane crashes due to its often sudden weather changes and many runways located in difficult-to-reach locations.
The most serious recent air accident in Nepal took place in March 2018, when a Bombardier Q400 of US-Bangla Airlines crashed while landing at Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu, killing 51 people and injuring 20 others.
