The co-pilot of the flight that crashed in Nepal Sunday, killing no less than 68 people on board, was the wife of a pilot who lost his life in a plane crash nearly 17 years ago.
Anju Khatiwada, 44, joined Nepal’s Yeti Airlines in 2010, following within the footsteps of her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, who was killed 4 years prior when the small passenger plane he was piloting for the air carrier crashed minutes before landing.
On Sunday, Khatiwada was within the co-pilot’s chair on a Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that went down right into a gorge because it approached town of Pokhara, in what was Nepal’s deadliest aviation disaster in three a long time.
No survivors have been found to this point among the many 68 passengers and 4 crew members.
Yeti Airlines spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula confirmed that Khatiwada’s husband died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane in town of Jumla.
“She got her pilot training with the cash she got from the insurance after her husband’s death,” Bartaula added.
A pilot with greater than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had previously flown the favored tourist route from Kathmandu to the country’s second-largest city, Pokhara.
The body of Kamal K.C., the captain of the plane, who had greater than 21,900 hours of flight time, has been recovered from the wreckage and positively identified.
Kathiwada’s stays haven’t been identified but she is feared dead, Bartaula said.
“On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the usual procedure of the airline,” said an unnamed Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.
“She was all the time able to take up any duty and had flown to Pokhara earlier,” said the official.
The ATR-72 aircraft that Khatiwada was co-piloting rolled backward and forward before crashing in a gorge near the newly opened airport and catching fire, in response to eyewitness accounts and a harrowing video of the crash posted on social media.
Authorities on Monday recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft, which can help investigators determine what caused it to crash in clear weather.
Jagannath Niraula, a spokesman for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said the devices will likely be handed over to investigators.
Each recorders were in fine condition and can be sent for evaluation based on the suggestion of the manufacturer, Teknath Sitaula, an official at Kathmandu airport, confirmed to Reuters.
Nepal began a national day of mourning Monday, as rescue staff rappelled down a 984-foot gorge to proceed the search. Two more bodies were found within the early hours.
Rescuers were battling cloudy weather and poor visibility Monday as they scoured the gorge for passengers who’re unaccounted for, greater than 24 hours after the crash. Sixty-eight bodies have been recovered to this point.
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m.
Minutes before the aircraft was to land on Sunday, the pilot asked for a change of runway, a spokesperson for Pokhara airport told Reuters.
“The permission was granted. We don’t ask (why), every time a pilot asks, we give permission to alter approach,” said the spokesperson, Anup Joshi.
The dual-engine ATR 72 aircraft was completing the 27-minute flight from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, 125 miles west.
It was carrying 72 people, including 15 foreign nationals, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in an announcement. The foreigners included five Indians, 4 Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
A whole lot of individuals gathered outside the Pokhara Academy of Health and Science, Western Hospital, where the bodies are being kept. Relatives and friends of victims, lots of whom were from Pokhara, consoled one another as they waited.
Nearly 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal — home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest — where sudden weather changes could make for hazardous conditions.
With Post wires
The co-pilot of the flight that crashed in Nepal Sunday, killing no less than 68 people on board, was the wife of a pilot who lost his life in a plane crash nearly 17 years ago.
Anju Khatiwada, 44, joined Nepal’s Yeti Airlines in 2010, following within the footsteps of her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, who was killed 4 years prior when the small passenger plane he was piloting for the air carrier crashed minutes before landing.
On Sunday, Khatiwada was within the co-pilot’s chair on a Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that went down right into a gorge because it approached town of Pokhara, in what was Nepal’s deadliest aviation disaster in three a long time.
No survivors have been found to this point among the many 68 passengers and 4 crew members.
Yeti Airlines spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula confirmed that Khatiwada’s husband died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane in town of Jumla.
“She got her pilot training with the cash she got from the insurance after her husband’s death,” Bartaula added.
A pilot with greater than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had previously flown the favored tourist route from Kathmandu to the country’s second-largest city, Pokhara.
The body of Kamal K.C., the captain of the plane, who had greater than 21,900 hours of flight time, has been recovered from the wreckage and positively identified.
Kathiwada’s stays haven’t been identified but she is feared dead, Bartaula said.
“On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the usual procedure of the airline,” said an unnamed Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.
“She was all the time able to take up any duty and had flown to Pokhara earlier,” said the official.
The ATR-72 aircraft that Khatiwada was co-piloting rolled backward and forward before crashing in a gorge near the newly opened airport and catching fire, in response to eyewitness accounts and a harrowing video of the crash posted on social media.
Authorities on Monday recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft, which can help investigators determine what caused it to crash in clear weather.
Jagannath Niraula, a spokesman for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said the devices will likely be handed over to investigators.
Each recorders were in fine condition and can be sent for evaluation based on the suggestion of the manufacturer, Teknath Sitaula, an official at Kathmandu airport, confirmed to Reuters.
Nepal began a national day of mourning Monday, as rescue staff rappelled down a 984-foot gorge to proceed the search. Two more bodies were found within the early hours.
Rescuers were battling cloudy weather and poor visibility Monday as they scoured the gorge for passengers who’re unaccounted for, greater than 24 hours after the crash. Sixty-eight bodies have been recovered to this point.
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m.
Minutes before the aircraft was to land on Sunday, the pilot asked for a change of runway, a spokesperson for Pokhara airport told Reuters.
“The permission was granted. We don’t ask (why), every time a pilot asks, we give permission to alter approach,” said the spokesperson, Anup Joshi.
The dual-engine ATR 72 aircraft was completing the 27-minute flight from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, 125 miles west.
It was carrying 72 people, including 15 foreign nationals, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in an announcement. The foreigners included five Indians, 4 Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
A whole lot of individuals gathered outside the Pokhara Academy of Health and Science, Western Hospital, where the bodies are being kept. Relatives and friends of victims, lots of whom were from Pokhara, consoled one another as they waited.
Nearly 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal — home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest — where sudden weather changes could make for hazardous conditions.
With Post wires
