On Tuesday, Nepalese hospitals began the grim process of handing over the bodies of plane crash victims to their grieving families.
A Yeti Airlines plane carrying 68 passengers and four crew members plunged into a steep ravine, shattered and burst into flames as it approached the central city of Pokhara on Sunday.
All on board, including six children and 15 foreigners, were killed.
Rescuers worked almost around the clock, removing human remains from a gorge strewn with twisted aircraft seats and pieces of the fuselage and wing.
Seventy bodies had been recovered by Tuesday morning, police spokesman A.K. Chetri told AFP. Another senior official said the day before that there was “zero” hope of finding anyone alive.
“Last night we removed one body. But it was three parts. We are not sure if it is three bodies or one body. This will only be confirmed after DNA testing,” Chhetri said.
He added that drones were used and the search for the two remaining bodies was extended to a radius of 2 to 3 kilometers (1 to 2 miles).
Black boxes from the plane, made by the French company ATR, were handed over to authorities on Monday, said Bikram Raj Gautam, chief of Pokhara International Airport.
On Tuesday, hospital workers in blue-and-white hazmat suits and masks loaded plastic-wrapped bodies into army trucks as distraught relatives cried and hugged outside.
The trucks then proceeded to the airport, from where the bodies were to be airlifted back to the capital, Kathmandu.
The body of one victim, journalist Tribhuban Poodle, was laid on a stretcher covered in orange marigold flowers outside his home as mourners passed by offering prayers under the winter sun.
“Eight bodies were handed over to families. We will hand over 14 more bodies after the autopsy is completed here in Pokhara. 48 bodies were sent to Kathmandu for DNA analysis and handover to families,” Chhetri said.
Flyer filmed the accident
The 90-second smartphone video of passenger Sonu Jaiswal began as the plane approached the runway, flying over buildings and green fields above Pokhara, a Nepalese city in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Everything looked normal as Jaiswal’s live Facebook feed gave way to scenic views from the plane’s window of laughing passengers. Finally Jaiswal in the yellow sweater turned the camera towards him and smiled.
Then it happened. The plane suddenly seemed to veer to the left as Jaiswal’s smartphone briefly recorded the screams of the passengers. After a few seconds, the footage began to shake, and the squeal of an engine was recorded on them. Toward the end of the video frame was enveloped in huge flames and smoke.
The co-pilot suffered the same fate as her husband
The co-pilot of the Yeti Airlines plane was Anju Hativada, who trained for years in the United States after her husband died in a plane crash in 2006 while flying with the same airline. Her colleagues described her as an experienced pilot who was highly motivated.
The deaths of Hativada, 44, and Jaiswal, 25, are part of a deadly picture in Nepal, a country that has experienced a series of plane crashes over the years, due in part to difficult terrain, bad weather and an aging fleet.
