NEPAL PLANE CRASH Black boxes found

Searchers yesterday found both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from a passenger flight that crashed killing at least 68 people in Nepal’s worst plane accident in 30 years, officials said.

The data on the recorders may help investigators determine what caused the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 aircraft, carrying 72 people, to crash in clear weather on Sunday just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhara.

Both recorders were in good shape and would be sent for analysis based on the recommendation of the manufacturer, Teknath Sitaula, an official at Kathmandu airport, told Reuters yesterday.

The pilot of the flight did not report “anything untoward” as the plane approached the airport, Pokhara airport spokesman Anup Joshi said.

Joshi also said that the “mountains were clear and visibility was good”, adding there was a light wind and “no issue with weather”.

Mobile phone footage showed the plane rolling sharply as it approached the airport. It then hit the ground in the gorge of the Seti River, just over a kilometre from the airport, reports BBC.

The pilot asked for a change from the assigned runway 3 to runway 1, which was granted by the airport, Joshi said.

“We could operate from the both runways. The plane was cleared for landing,” he said. It was “very unfortunate” that the incident happened 15 days after the airport had opened for business, Joshi added.

Rescue workers scoured a debris-strewn ravine for four missing bodies from the mangled wreckage of the plane, with hopes of any survivors now “nil”, according to authorities.

Reuters footage from the crash site showed rescuers looking at the charred remains of the plane near the gorge.

The plane, on a scheduled flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara, gateway to the scenic Annapurna mountain range, was carrying 57 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one person each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France.