All 22 bodies, blackbox recovered after Nepal plane crash

The bodies of all 22 victims and the plane’s black box have been recovered after a deadly crash in Nepal.

The Tara Air turboprop Twin Otter was on a short flight through the Himalayas on Sunday and crashed shortly before it was scheduled to land in Jomsom, a mountain town. The plane had taken off about 12 minutes earlier from Pokhara, a resort town, when it lost contact with air traffic control.

Four Indians and two Germans were among the victims. The three crew members and 13 other passengers were Nepali. Two families were among the Nepali victims. Jomsom is popular with tourists for hiking and also has a famous Muktinath temple that draws Indian and Nepali pilgrims.

All the bodies were flown to Kathmandu, about 125 miles away, and taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital where autopsies are being performed, Tara Air said in a statement.

The plane, which is prized for its ability to take off and land on short runways, has previously been involved in about 21 accidents since it began flying about 50 years ago, according to aviationnepal.com.

The plane’s data will soon be studied, as well.

“[The] cockpit voice recorder, also known as [the] black box of the plane has been recovered from the crash site,” Deo Chandra Lal Karna, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority Nepal told BBC Nepali.

“We are preparing to airlift the black box to Kathmandu from a helicopter.”

A local rescuer told the BBC that the recorder needed to be cut out of a part of the wreckage that was stuck in the mountain.

With News Wire Services