The Australian passenger onboard the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Nepal on Sunday has been identified as Sydney man Myron Love.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it was “urgently seeking to confirm the welfare of the Australian” onboard the flight, per the Guardian.
Among the 72 people on board, four remain unaccounted-for and at least 68 people have been confirmed dead, per Reuters. It’s the country’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.
Love’s family told Daily Mail Australia they did not wish to comment until their loved one’s welfare had been confirmed by Australian authorities.
“We’re not saying anything until the consulate has confirmed the body,” they said.
The Yeti Airlines plane was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara — a 27-minute flight — when it crashed into a 300-metre gorge.
Emergency personnel including the army, firefighters and the Himalayan Rescue Association have been sent to the scene to carry out the search and rescue operation, which was suspended on Sunday evening due to the darkness.
Police official Ajay KC told Reuters on Monday the “cloudy” conditions have been “causing a problem in the search”.
Army spokesman Krishna Prasad Bhandari said it has been difficult to retrieve bodies from the gorge, per the Guardian. He added that no survivors have been found yet.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed in a press release that 15 foreign nationals were onboard the flight, including one Australian, one French, one Argentinian, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans and one person from Ireland.
#YetiAirlines #9N-ANC #Crash
Press Release pic.twitter.com/HPmOuH6pMN
— Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (@hello_CAANepal) January 15, 2023
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency cabinet meeting, per Al Jazeera.
The government has also formed a panel to investigate the cause of the incident.
It’s currently unclear what caused the plane to crash, but veteran airline consultant Neil Hansford told the ABC it may have been due to “pilot-handling”.
“I think the pilots have lost control of the aircraft and that’s why it’s ended up on the edge of a ridge,” he said.
“There are suggestions that it was actually upside down.
“Fuel is not an issue, because it burnt so readily, because there was obviously a lot of fuel on board.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal confirmed in a statement that the plane made contact with Pokhara Airport from Seti Gorge at 10.50am local time.
“Then it crashed,” it said.
Local resident Khum Bahadur Chhetri told Reuters he saw the crash from the roof of his house.
“I saw the plane trembling, moving left and right, and then suddenly its nose dived and it went into the gorge,” he said.
Arun Tamu, another local resident, told the publication half the plane is on the hillside.
“The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river,” he said.
Journalist Ramyata Limbu told Al Jazeera the crash was “shocking and surprising”, as locals in Pokhara posited both the weather and visibility were “good”.
“Eyewitnesses said the plane was having problems before it crashed into a gorge close to the airport,” she said.
Aviation Safety Network data showed it is Nepal’s deadliest crash since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 died after the aircraft crashed while approaching Kathmandu.
Per SBS News, at least 309 people have been killed in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal since 2000.
