Family in Nepal plane crash were on trip because of divorce order

A team of climbers prepare to leave for rescue operations, in Kathmandu, on Sunday. Pic/PTI

A divorced couple and their two children, who were among the 22 people aboard the plane that crashed in Nepal on Sunday, were on their yearly get-together trip, as per a court order. While the woman and the kids lived in Thane, her ex-husband lived in Odisha.

The family, identified as Vaibhavi Bendre, 51, her ex-husband Ashok Kumar Tripathi, 54, their son Dhanush, 22, and daughter Ritika, 15, were on a 10-day vacation to Nepal when the incident happened.

Senior Inspector of Kapurbawdi police station Uttam Sonavane said that after the couple's divorce, the children lived with Vaibhavi at the Rustomjee Athena building in Majiwada, Thane. Vaibhavi works at a private firm in the BKC, he added. Ashok lives in Bhubaneswar and works at a private company.

A signage of Tara Airlines is seen behind as a team of climbers prepare to leave for rescue operations, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Sunday. Pic/PTI

Following their divorce, as per the court's orders, they got together for 10 days every year. This time, they planned a trip to Nepal, "but this unfortunate incident happened, following which they are all missing," said Sonavane.

He added that Vaibhavi was living with her ailing mother who is on ventilator support. Vaibhavi's sister was taking care of their mother in her absence. Her sister, who was in shock, did not speak much with the media. A small passenger plane with 22 people on board went missing in cloudy weather in Nepal on Sunday and authorities suspended a search in difficult terrain as night fell.

The plane departed from the tourist town of Pokhara, and was headed for Jomsom which is a popular tourist and pilgrimage site. A burning wreckage of the aircraft has been spotted though the fate of the 22 on board is unknown, Nepalese officials said amid search operations there.

With inputs from Agencies