Nepal restricts flight permission in bad weather after 22 die in Tara Air plane crash

After 22 people died in a plane crash in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district due to bad weather, the Himalayan nation on Tuesday tightened flight permit rules for airlines by making it necessary to have clear weather throughout the route.

Being a mountainous country, the weather keeps varying and it is tough to operate an aircraft in the hilly region without a proper weather forecasting mechanism.

The new provision is applicable to all aircraft following the Visual Flight Rules. During the submission of the flight plan, the airlines are needed to share weather forecasting information obtained from the country's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology regarding the weather during the journey.

22, including 4 Indians, die in Nepal place case

According to a preliminary probe, Tara Air's Canadian-built turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane crashed into the mountains minutes after taking off from Pokhara on Sunday, killing 22 aboard. The plane swerved to the right instead of the left due to inclement weather.

The plane was carrying 13 Nepali passengers, four Indians, two Germans and three-member Nepal crew. On Monday, rescuers recovered 21 bodies from the wreckage site. The last body was recovered on Tuesday. The bodies have been brought to the capital city Kathmandu from where the mortal remains would be handed over to families after the post-mortem.

A five-member commission of inquiry led by senior aeronautical engineer Ratish Chandra Lal Suman has been formed by the government to find out the cause of the crash.

Nepal, which is often referred to as one of the world's riskiest places to fly, has had a fraught record of flying accidents, due to its unexpected weather changes and airstrips located in mountainous terrain.

In 2016, 23 people were killed when a plane of Tara Air flying the same route crashed after takeoff. In March 2018, 51 people died in a US-Bangla Air crash that occurred at the Tribhuvan International Airport. In 2016, 23 people aboard