Co-pilot of downed Nepal passenger plane was widow of pilot killed in 2006 crash | 24CA News

In 2010, Anju Khatiwada joined Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, following within the footsteps of her husband, a pilot who had died in a crash 4 years earlier when a small passenger aircraft he was flying for the home service went down minutes earlier than touchdown.

On Sunday, Khatiwada, 44, was the co-pilot on a Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that crashed because it approached the town of Pokhara, killing at the very least 68 folks within the Himalayan nation’s deadliest aircraft accident in three many years.

No survivors have been discovered to date among the many 72 folks on board.

“Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane of Yeti Airlines in Jumla,” airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula informed Reuters, referring to Khatiwada. “She got her pilot training with the money she got from the insurance after her husband’s death.”

A pilot with greater than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had beforehand flown the favored vacationer route from the capital, Kathmandu, to the nation’s second-largest metropolis, Pokhara, Bartaula stated.

The physique of Kamal Okay.C., the captain of the flight, who had greater than 21,900 hours of flight time, has been recovered and recognized.

Kathiwada’s stays haven’t been recognized however she is feared lifeless, Bartaula stated.

“On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the standard procedure of the airline,” stated an Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.

“She was always ready to take up any duty and had flown to Pokhara earlier,” stated the official, who requested to not be named as a result of he is not approved to talk to media.

Reuters was unable to instantly attain any of her relations.

The ATR-72 plane that Khatiwada was co-piloting rolled backward and forward earlier than crashing in a river gorge close to Pokhara airport and catching fireplace, based on eyewitness accounts and a video of the crash posted on the social media.

It stays unclear what precipitated the crash, the Himalayan nation’s deadliest airplane accident in three many years. The climate was gentle and never windy on the day of the crash.

Ground shook like an earthquake, says witness

A witness who recorded footage of the aircraft’s descent from his balcony stated he noticed the aircraft flying low earlier than it all of the sudden veered to its left. “I saw that and I was shocked. I thought that today everything will be finished here after it crashes, I will also be dead,” stated Diwas Bohora.

After it crashed, pink flames erupted and the bottom shook violently, like an earthquake, Bohora stated. “I was scared. Seeing that scene, I was scared.”

Another witness stated he noticed the plane twist violently within the air after it started descending to land, watching from the terrace of his home. Finally, Gaurav Gurung stated, the aircraft fell nose-first in direction of its left and crashed into the gorge.

The cockpit voice recorder and flight information recorder from the plane, which can assist investigators decide what precipitated it to crash in clear climate, had been recovered on Monday.

Both recorders had been in fine condition and could be despatched for evaluation primarily based on the advice of the producer, Teknath Sitaula, an official on the Kathmandu airport, informed Reuters on Monday.

Rescuers had been battling cloudy climate and poor visibility as they scoured the river gorge the place the aircraft crashed.

Nearly 350 folks have died since 2000 in aircraft or helicopter crashes in Nepal — house to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, together with Everest — the place sudden climate adjustments could make for hazardous situations.