At least 68 people died after an ATR 72 aircraft belonging to Yeti Airlines carrying 72 people crashed in Nepal’s Pokhara at 11 am on Sunday. According to preliminary reports, the aircraft, with 68 passengers and four crew members onboard, crashed about 20 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu for Pokhara, a few kilometres away from the destination. Rescue operations are on as visuals on social media showed smoke billowing from the crash site.
Nepal has a long history of plane crashes. The rugged mountainous terrain, unpredictable weather, dearth of investment in new planes and infrastructure and poor regulation have contributed to these unfortunate incidents. According to the Aviation Safety database, there have been at least 27 fatal plane crashes in Nepal over the past 30 years.
