The remains of a Twin Otter aircraft belonging to Tara Air, which went missing on Wednesday with 22 people, have been recovered at Sri Chaur VDC of Okhaldhunga district on Thursday morning, media reports said.
According to Deputy Inspector General at Tribhuvan International Airport, Ramesh Shekhar Bajracharya, the aircraft met with an accident after it collided with the a hill.
Meanwhile, rescue teams from Nepal Police and Nepal Army have reached the ill-fated site for rescue operations.
It is reported that the bodies have been fragmented into many pieces. “We have recovered the charred remains of all those in the plane,” a security personal involved in the rescue operation told Nepal FM over phone.
PM Thinley contacts Nepali counterpart
Prime Minsiter Jigmi Y Thinley on Wednesday contacted his Nepali counterpart, Madhav Kumar Nepal, over phone to ascertain the veracity of the claim regarding 18 passengers as the Bhutanese pilgrims.
“He contacted Prime Minsiter to inquire about the authenticity about Bhutanese nationals on the missing plane,” Bishnu Rijal, press advisor of Nepali PM told Bhutan News Service, Thursday morning.
It is learnt that of the 19 passengers, 18 were Bhutanese, who were issued tickets by a Kathmandu-based travel agent on fake Nepali names, reports said.
According to Druk National Congress President RK Dorji, several Bhutanese nationals visit a meditation spot of Guru Padma Sambhawa near Halesi Mahadev in Khotang annually. “I am yet to confirm the claim. But, it is likely as quoted by Nepali media,” Dorji said.
The aircraft, which took off from Nepal’s Lamidanda airport in Khotang district to the TIA at 3.08 p.m. yesterday, went out of contact after five minutes.
