Foreign nationals onboard the plane included five Indians, four Russians, two Koreans, an Australian, a French, an Argentine and an Israeli. The five Indians have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, Bishal Sharma, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, Sonu Jaiswal and Sanjaya Jaiswal.
Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft. Pic/AFP
"Deeply grieved on hearing about the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. Our thoughts are with the affected families," India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted and shared the helpline numbers of the Indian Embassy. Pic/AFP
Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains. The last major air accident in Nepal happened on May 29 when all 22 people onboard, including four members of an Indian family, were killed as a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district. In 2016, all 23 people aboard were killed when a plane of the same airline flying the same route crashed after takeoff. Pic/AFP
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' held an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers following the crash. The emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Sunday afternoon has decided to announce a public holiday on January 16 to mourn the victims of the Yeti Airlines plane crash. Pic/PTI
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