A small aircraft operated by Tara Air crashed in the mountainous northern Nepal, killing all 20 passengers and three crew members on board.
The Viking 9N-AHH Twin Otter aircraft, travelling from Nepal’s Pokhara to Jomsom, went missing on Wednesday 24 February after losing contact with the control tower ten minutes after taking off.
Following the report of the crash, the authorities began recovery operations, but had to stop due to bad weather.
The debris of the crashed plane was found near the village of Dana in the Myagdi district. The bodies retrieved were badly charred.
According to the country’s aviation authorities, two of them were children and among those killed was a Chinese and a Kuwaiti national.
Nepal civil aviation minister Ananda Prasad Pokharel said bad weather could be the cause of the crash.
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By GlobalDataPokharel was quoted by The New York Times saying: "The weather was not so clear.
"Snowfall, rain and thick fog are responsible for the crash."
The minister added an investigation will be carried out to find out why the plane took off in bad weather. The country’s aviation industry has a poor safety record as unpredictable weather conditions and bird strikes have caused several plane crashes.
In 2013, a ban was imposed on Nepal-based airlines from flying in EU airspace.
