lack box of crashed aircraft found, probe committee formed
The Nepal Weekly 
July 30, 2024
Eighteen people including a 2 year old child were killed when an aeroplane belonging to Saurya Airlines crashed at the Tribhuvan International Airport ground in Kathmandu. All people on board except the pilot were killed when the flight 9 N-AME of Saurya Airlines aircraft flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport at 11:11 am on Wednesday. The plane appears to have crashed about 20 seconds after takeoff. Co-pilot Sushant Katuwal, airline employees Amitman Maharjan, Sagar Acharya, Dilip Barma, Manuraj Sharma, Ashwin Niraula and Sudiplal Joshi died in the accident. Likewise, Sarvesh Marasini, Shyam Windukar, Navraj Ale, Rajaram Acharya, Prija Khatiwada, Adhiraj Sharma, Uddhav Puri, Yagya Prasad Paudyal, Santosh Mahato, Punyaratna Shahi and Arif Reda were those killed in the accident, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. The plane that was flying to Pokhara for maintenance had crashed at Tribhuvan Airport while trying to take off from the ground.
The bodies of 17 people who died have been identified by their relatives. All the bodies except foreigner Arif Reda have been handed over to their kins, according to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. After the company assured to provide due compensation to the kins of those who died in the aircrash, the family received the body.
So far, 61 air accidents have occurred in Nepal including Saurya Airlines on Wednesday. In total 915 people have died in those accidents. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAN), there have been 36 domestic and eight international aircraft and 17 helicopter accidents occurred since 1955.
Five major accidents have occurred in Tribhuvan International Airport, which is considered to be the most equipped and safest in the country. The first major accident at Tribhuvan Airport took place on 14 January 1995. At that time, two people died and 23 were injured when a plane of the then Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation crashed. Similarly, on 21 April 2004, one person died in a plane crash of Buddha Air. On 4 March 2015, a Turkish Air widebody overran the runway during landing. 235 passengers on the plane were injured. There were no human casualties in the accident. Similarly, in March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Bangladesh also met with an accident during landing. Among the 71 passengers including the crew, 51 people died in the accident. On Wednesday a plane of Saurya Air met with an accident causing human casualties.
Black box of crashed aircraft found, probe committee formed
The probe team headed by Ratish Chandra Lal, former director general of Civil Aviation Authority includes four other experts. The committee is required to submit its report along with recommendation within 45 days.
Captain Shakya, the sole survivor of the Surya Airlines aircrash is undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Medical College of Kathmandu and his condition is said to be still. Though he is admitted to the ICO but he can speak, said hospital sources.
The Saurya Airlines’ 9N-AME was flying to Pokhara along with 15 technicians and other staff of the airlines for regular engine maintenance of the aircraft, when the incident happened. The fire rescue team along with the fire engines reached the accident site, which is just 400 meter away from the crash site, within minutes as per the airport emergency plan to rescue the passengers, according to Hansa Raj Pandey, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority.
The black box of the crashed aircraft has been recovered and handed over to the probe team for necessary action, he informed.
The dead bodies are in the process of identification after conducting postmortem and they will be handed over to the family members by Friday, he said.
