Nepal plane crash: Rescuers recover 14 bodies from wreckage; no survivors found yet

UPDATE AT 13:20

• Officials present at the plane crash site have recovered 16 bodies so far: Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

A day after a twin-engine aircraft carrying 22 passengers crashed in Nepal's Mustang district, the search and rescue team, on Monday, May 30, said that no survivors were found at the crash site yet as they pulled out 14 bodies from the wreckage of the Tara Airlines plane.  

The passenger plane operated by a private airline in Nepal went missing on Sunday, with 22 people on board, including four Indians. Tara Air 9 NAET twin-engine aircraft, en route to the Jomsom airport lost contact while flying over Pokhara, some 200 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu. The aircraft, which was on a 17-minute scheduled flight, lost contact shortly after take-off at 9:55 am local time. Later, on Sunday evening, the wreckage of the aircraft was located at Kowang in Nepal's Mustang. 

Following adverse weather conditions and loss of daylight, the search and rescue operations were halted on Sunday evening before resuming on Monday morning. The Union Home Ministry had deployed two private helicopters from Mustang and Pokhara for engaging in the operation for the missing aircraft. Additionally, a Nepal Army chopper was also deployed for the search. 

The airline issued the list of passengers, which included four Indians - Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathy), and their children Dhanush and Ritika. The family was based in Thane city near Mumbai.

Dana-based tourism entrepreneur Indra Singh Sherchan, who reached the crash site, said that the plane was found in a completely damaged condition. Singh said that there was no fire on the aircraft. The aircraft could have met with an accident after hitting a cliff nearby.

Rescuers on Monday pulled out 14 bodies from the wreckage of the Tara Airlines plane. The Canadian-built plane was flying from the city of Pokhara to Jomsom, a popular tourist town in central Nepal.

The wreckage of a plane was found in the country's Mustang district on Monday, the Nepal Army said.

Pieces of the wreckage of the passenger plane that crashed on Sunday morning were found at 14,500ft in Sano Sware Bhir of Thasang in Mustang district in northwestern Nepal, after nearly 20 hours since the plane went missing, the Nepal Army said on Monday.