Nepal Plane Crash: Timeline of Aircraft Accidents That Rocked the Himalayan Nation
17:08 18.01.2023 (Updated: 18:15 13.07.2023)
© AP Photo / Bikram Rai
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Be it tricky runways on the mountainous terrain, unpredictable weather or poor regulations and lax standard, the reasons for plane crashes in Nepal are multiple.
Nepal suffered a deadly plane crash on Sunday that killed all 71 passengers and crew members on board Yeti Airlines’ flight en route from Kathmandu to Pokhara International Airport.
The news of yet another catastrophe jolted the country, which has witnessed a barrage of plane crashes over the past three decades. While the investigative team is still probing what exactly was behind the latest accident, the crash prompted analysts to suggest Nepal could be one of the most dangerous and risky places to fly.
According to the Aviation Safety database, there have been at least 17 fatal plane crashes in Nepal over the last three decades.
Here's a look back at air crashes that shook Nepal.
July 1992: All 99 passengers and 14 crew on board a Thai Airways Airbus 310 crashed after the plane collided with a mountain 37 km north of Kathmandu during heavy monsoon rain. The investigation revealed that the crash was caused by minor glitches in the plane’s flaps and miscommunication with the air traffic controller due to bad weather.
September 1992: In Nepal's worst-ever air accident, all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane died after the plane coming from the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi crashed into the last mountain crest 11 kilometers before landing in Kathmandu airport."
July 1993: All three crew members and 16 passengers were killed after an EverestAir’s Dornier aircraft crashed near Chule Ghopte hill near Nepal."
July 2000: A Royal Nepal Airlines’ Twin Otter aircraft, carrying 22 passengers and three crew members, crashed while it was en route to Dhanghadhi airport, killing everyone.""
November 2001: Princess Prekshya Shah of Nepal, among six other occupants, died after a chartered helicopter they were travelling in crashed in Western Nepal."
June 2006: A Yeti aircraft carrying six passengers, including crew members, crashed on the ground at the Jumla airport, resulting in everybody’s death."
September 2006: A Shree Air’s chartered helicopter, which was on an expedition of the World Wide Fund for Nature and returning from a conservation event, crashed during in Eastern Nepal, killing all 24 passengers and staff members on board."
October 2008: At least 18 people, including 12 Germans and two Australians, were killed when Yeti Airlines’ small private plane travelling from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu to Tenzing-Hillary Airport crashed in the remote mountains of Lukla in northeastern Nepal."
September 2011: All 19 people on board died after a small Buddha Air airline taking tourists on a sightseeing trip around Mount Everest collided with a hill near Kathmandu due to adverse monsoon weather conditions."
May 2012: At least 15 people die and six miraculously escaped death after an Agni Air plane carrying Indian pilgrims from Pokhara Airport crashed into a hilltop while attempting to land at a high-altitude airport of Jomsom in northern Nepal.""
September 2012: A Sita Air passenger plane flying 19 people from Kathmandu to the mountain town of Lukla, towards Mount Everest goes down in flames and sank into a river, killing everyone on board including seven Britons and five Chinese citizens."
February 2014: At least 18 people are killed when a Nepal Airlines flight crashes in Arghakhanchi district in the country. Rescuers found the body parts and debris scattered across the mountainous countryside."
May 2015: Six US marines and two Nepali soldiers, who went missing during a mission to deliver aid to victims of two earthquakes, died after their flight crashed in the Charikot region of Nepal."
February 2016: A Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air carrying 23 people on board from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed due to bad weather after eight minutes of its take-off into a hillside in Myagdi district, killing all."
March 2018: 51 people were killed and 21 escaped death after a flight returning from the Bangladesh’s Dhaka city crash-lands at Kathmandu airport, skidding into a football field and bursted into flames. The investigation report revealed that pilot’s disorientation was the most likely cause of the catastrophe."
February 2019: An Air Dynasty helicopter carrying Nepal’s Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari and seven other passengers crashed into a hill as it was attempting to find its way back into Kathmandu in cloudy weather. The preliminary investigation report claimed that there had been violations of operating procedures, such as the incorrect seating arrangements of passengers and disbalance of weights due to the positioning of the fuel tank."
May 2022: A Twin Otter plane operated by Tara Air carrying 22 people on board, including four Indians, crashed shortly after take-off from Pokhara in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district and the bodies of all the people were recovered three days later. The Nepal government’s probe report concluded that the bad weather might have caused the incident."
