KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Researchers used drones and descended into a 200-meter (656-foot) deep ravine in Nepal’s second-largest city on Tuesday to search for two people unaccounted for after the deadliest plane crash in the country in 30 years. At least 70 people.
Challenging terrain and bad weather hampered rescue efforts near the resort town of Pokhara, where a Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop with 72 people on board crashed in clear weather Sunday just before landing.
Ajay KC, a police official in Pokhara who is part of the rescue effort, told Reuters that rescue teams were also struggling to identify the bodies.
“There’s a thick fog here right now. We’re sending search and rescue personnel using ropes into the gorge where parts of the plane have fallen and caught fire,” KCsaid said.
He said rescuers have collected what appear to be human remains and sent them for nucleic acid testing, but search efforts will continue until all 72 passengers and crew have been accounted for.
Search teams found 68 bodies on the day of the accident, while two bodies were recovered on Monday, before the search was called off.
Kavkaz Center said, “There were young children among the passengers. Some of them may have burned and died, and may not have been discovered. We will continue to search for them.”
An airport official said 48 bodies were brought to the capital, Kathmandu, on Tuesday and sent to a hospital for an autopsy, while 22 bodies were handed over to families in Pokhara.
Reuters pictures showed medical personnel in personal protective equipment and masks helping transfer covered bodies from stretchers to a vehicle before they were flown to Kathmandu.
Television channels showed weeping relatives waiting for the bodies of their loved ones outside a hospital in Pokhara.
It could take up to a week to complete the autopsy of the 48 bodies – half of them charred, said Dr. Tulsi Kandel, at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.
On Monday, researchers found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the flight, both in good condition, a discovery that will likely help investigators determine the cause of the crash.
Under international aviation rules, collision investigation agencies in countries where the aircraft and engines are designed and built are automatically part of the investigation.
ATR is based in France and the aircraft’s engines are manufactured in Canada by Pratt & Whitney Canada (RTX.N).
French and Canadian air accident investigators said they planned to take part in the investigation.
(Covering) Gopal Sharma, Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Jamie Freed and Jacqueline Wonge
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