"Government serious about air safety"

KATHMANDU, Jan 19: Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Sudan Kiranti has informed the House about the accident of the Yeti Airlines plane flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

In today's meeting of the House of Representatives, he said the meeting that the plane crashed near the Pokhara airport at 10:50 in the morning and fell in search of the Seti River and that there were 72 people on board the plane including the crew.
 
Minister Kiranti also said that the bodies of 71 passengers have been found so far and their bodies are being examined at hospitals in Pokhara and Kathmandu and handed over to their relatives.
 
He said that search and rescue operations are being carried out with the help of the Nepali Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and locals along with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal  after the plane crash.

Minister Kirati said the House that after finding out the truth about the accident and preventing such incidents from happening in the future, an Air Crash Investigation Commission has been formed according to the Non-Military Air Flight (Accident Investigation) Regulations, 2071.
 
An emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Sunday formed a five-member accident investigation commission under the coordination of former secretary Nagendra Ghimire.
 
In order to prevent accidents, the government has arranged for the mandatory technical inspection of domestic flights starting from the same day. "Instructions have been given to authorities and other agencies to prevent such incidents from happening again in the coming days", Minister Kiranti said, "The government is serious about making the air service reliable and air safety."