Family from Odisha, Believed Dead in Nepal Crash, 14 Bodies Recovered
Family from Odisha, Believed Dead in Nepal Crash, 14 Bodies Recovered
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Bhubaneswar: "We believe all of the passengers on board the plane have died." After 14 bodies were discovered at the plane crash site in the district of Mustang in northern Nepal on Monday, Phadindra Mani Pokhrel, spokesperson for the Nepal home ministry, told ANI that "our preliminary assessment shows that no one could have survived the plane crash, but the official statement is due."
Rescuers have rescued 14 bodies from the downed Tara Air plane, according to local media. "Some of the passengers' bodies are incomprehensible. The remains are being gathered by police," a source told the newspaper. The bodies will be transferred to Kathmandu to undergo an autopsy.
The only Indians onboard were Ashok Kumar Tripathy (53), his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar Tripathy (51) and their children Dhanush (24) and Ritika (15) from Odisha. Two Germans and 13 Nepalese nationals were among the other passengers.
Vaibhavi and her family lived in Thane, a suburb of Mumbai. In Mumbai, she worked for a private firm. Ashok had returned to his native Odisha, where he worked as a human resources consultant in the state capital. Ashok was from the Odisha town of Sonepur. Dhanush had a bachelor's degree in engineering. The family was on vacation in Nepal and was due back in a few days.
The couple "were separated and as per court orders, the children had to spend 10 days with their father every year," according to media, and this time "they were travelling to Muktinath in Nepal."
The plane went missing around 9.55 a.m. local time on Sunday, just after taking off from Pokhara on a short flight to Jomsom, a major tourist and pilgrimage destination.
This morning, a team lead by Nepal police inspector Raj Kumar Tamang flew to the crash site. To recover the bodies, a squad of 15 Nepali Army personnel has been lowered near the crash scene. While the crash location is at an elevation of 14,500 feet, the team was dropped at 11,000 feet, according to a Nepal Army spokeswoman.
