Relatives of 18 dead in Nepal plane crash demand answers
- A government panel set up on Wednesday to investigate the crash will submit a report within 45 days
Relatives of the 18 dead in an aeroplane crash in Nepal have yet to hear from the government or the airline on the possible cause of the disaster, they said a day after the small jet went down during take-off at the airport in Kathmandu, the capital.
The incident has cast a spotlight on the mountainous, landlocked nation’s poor record on air safety, with almost 360 people killed since 2000 in plane and helicopter crashes.
The 50-seater CRJ-200 aircraft that crashed on Wednesday was operated by Saurya Airlines, and was ferrying 15 technicians, two crew and two of a technician’s family to the central city of Pokhara, where it was scheduled for regular maintenance.
Only the captain survived after it crashed in a field beside the runway and caught fire.
“Nobody has contacted us,” said Krishna Bahadur Magar, a relative of Nava Raj Ale who was a ground handler at Saurya and died in the crash.
“Our relative was a member of the Saurya Airlines family,” Magar said. “Why is the airline now behaving as if they don’t care about him?”
