Nepal Tara Air plane crash: all but one of 22 people on board confirmed dead

Tara Air turboprop plane lost contact with airport tower during 20-minute flight on Sunday

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  Search crews unload bodies in Kathmandu after they were taken from the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 22 people on board in north-western Nepal. AFP

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  Nepalese army officials load bodies discovered after Sunday's disaster into ambulances in Kathmandu. AP

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  Police searchers move wreckage on the mountainside near the town of Jomsom, the plane's destination when it disappeared. EPA

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  This handout photograph taken on May 30, 2022 and released by the Nepal Police shows the wreckage of a Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air, laying on a mountainside in Mustang, a day after it crashed. - Nepali rescuers on May 30 retrieved 16 bodies from the mangled wreckage of a passenger plane strewn across a mountainside that crashed in the Himalayas with 22 people on board. (Photo by Man Bahadur Basyal / Nepal Police / AFP) / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Nepal Police" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

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  Police search for survivors, but none were found. AFP

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  An aerial view of the wreckage of the plane under a steep cliff in the mountains. Reuters

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  Family members and relatives of passengers on board the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air, weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29, 2022. - A passenger plane with 22 people on board went missing in Nepal on May 29, the operating airline and officials said, as poor weather hampered a search operation. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)

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  The twin-engined aircraft, operated by Tara Air, was carrying 22 passengers and crew, AFP

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  It was travelling from Pokhara, about 125 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu, to Jomsom, about 80km to the north-west. AFP

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  Tribhuvan International airport in Kathmandu, from where rescue teams departed. AP

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  Climbers prepare to leave for rescue operations from Tribhuvan International Airport. Rescue teams later located the wreckage of the Tara Air aircraft in a remote location. AP

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  The Tara Air Twin Otter, registration number 9N-AET, that crashed, pictured in Simikot, Nepal in 2021. Reuters

The wreckage of a plane carrying 22 people that disappeared in Nepal’s mountains has been found scattered on a mountainside and the bodies of all those on board recovered except for one, officials said.

The Tara Air turboprop Twin Otter was on a 20-minute flight on Sunday when it lost contact with the airport tower while flying in a mountainous area with deep river gorges.

The plane crashed in Sanosware, in Mustang district, close to the mountain town of Jomsom where it was heading after taking off from the resort town of Pokhara, 200 kilometres west of Kathmandu, Nepal's army said.

An aerial photograph of the crash site, which was posted by the army on Twitter, showed parts of the aircraft scattered around the mountainside.

Bodies of the victims were brought to Kathmandu on Monday aboard a military helicopter.

The search is continuing for the remaining person, a Kathmandu Airport spokesman said.

Four Indians and two Germans were on the plane. The three crew members and other passengers were Nepali citizens.

Recovery efforts were delayed because some bodies were pinned under the plane’s wreckage. Rescuers working with their bare hands had difficulty moving the metal debris.

The search for the plane had been suspended due to bad weather and failing light on Sunday night but resumed on Monday.

The 43-year-old aircraft took off from Pokhara at 9.55am and transmitted its last signal at 10.07am at an altitude of 3.9km, tracking data from flightradar24.com showed.

Relatives of passengers onboard the Twin Otter aircraft operated by Tara Air weep outside the airport in Pokhara on May 29. AFP

The plane’s destination is popular with foreign hikers who trek the mountain trails, and also with Indian and Nepalese pilgrims who visit the revered Muktinath temple.

The Twin Otter, a rugged plane originally built by Canadian aircraft manufacturer De Havilland, has been in service in Nepal for about 50 years, during which it has been involved in about 21 accidents, according to aviationnepal.com.

The plane, with its top-mounted wing and fixed landing gear, is prized for its durability and its ability to take off and land on short runways.

Production of the planes originally ended in the 1980s. Another Canadian company, Viking Air, brought the model back into production in 2010.