Probe commission on Nepali airplane crash starts work
10/10/2008 16:56
The five-member commission formed by the Nepali government to probe the
Lukla air tragedy in which 18 people, mostly foreign nationals, died Wednesday,
is to begin its investigation from today.
The probe commission, headed by
acting co-attorney general Puspa Raj Koirala, will start investigating the
cause(s) that led to the terrible accident that shook Nepal's tourism industry
on the eve of the Dashain festivals, which is also a peak tourist season.
The
exact cause of incident is not known yet, but Yeti Airlines in its statement has
quoted an eyewitness as saying that it was foggy at the time the accident took
place.
Ranjit Singh Baral, member of the probe team, told a local radio
station that the commission will begin its investigation by first going through
the postmortem report of the victims who died in the air tragedy.
He said the
probe team is flying to Lukla this morning to visit the site of the
accident.
Meanwhile, the government is preparing to submit the bodies of the
foreign nationals who died in the air tragedy after finishing their
autopsy.
The bodies are being kept at the Tribhuvan University Teaching
Hospital and will be submitted to German and Australian Embassies in
Kathmandu.
As many as 12 German nationals, two Australians and two Nepali
passengers died in the accident along with co-pilot and a Nepali air
hostess.
The government has asked the commission to submit its report on the
incident within two months.
A Yeti Airlines Twin Otter had crashed on final
approach at the Tenzing-Hillary airport, Lukla. The airport is gateway to Mt.
Qomolangma (Mt. Everest), some 140 km east of Kathmandu.
International
tourists are coming to Nepal at the beginning of October, the end of Nepali
monsoon season.
Only one crew member, the pilot, survived the tragic
accident. He is undergoing treatment at TU Teaching Hospital.
Xinhua
|
