CNN
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loss of a 22. aircraft carrier People in Nepal have highlighted the dangers of air travel in a country that is often referred to as one of the riskiest places in the world.
On Sunday, when a Tara Air plane hit a mountain in the Himalayas at an altitude of about 14,500 feet, it was Nepal’s 19th plane crash in 10 years and the 10th fatality during the same period. Aviation Safety Network Database,
While investigators are still figuring out exactly what happened with the Tara Air plane, experts say conditions such as unstable weather patterns, low visibility and mountainous topography have dented Nepal’s reputation as a notoriously dangerous place to fly. contribute as.
Binod BK, an official in Nepal’s Interior Ministry, told CNN that particularly bad weather played a role on the occasion. According to Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the weather forecast for Pokhara at that time is “generally cloudy with thunderstorms.”
The Tara Air plane took off from Pokhara city in central Nepal on Sunday morning. Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said its 25-minute flight to the more popular tourist destination Jomsom was about halfway through when air control lost contact.
Bad weather, poor visibility and lack of daylight hampered initial search and rescue operations by the Nepalese army, but helicopters sent to the mountainous areas helped to locate the wreckage from the presumed crash site on Monday and the first bodies were found. . In the pictures and videos released by the army, the wreckage of the aircraft scattered on the ground is visible.
On Tuesday, despite inclement weather, rescue teams announced that they had recovered all the bodies.
Unstable weather patterns are not the only problem for flight operations. according to a 2019 Safety Report The country’s “hostile topography” is also part of a “big challenge” facing pilots, from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority.
Nepal, a country of 29 million people, is home to eight of the world’s 14 tallest mountains, including Everest, and its beautiful rugged landscapes make it a popular tourist destination for trekkers.
But the terrain can be difficult to navigate by air, especially during inclement weather, and things are made worse by the need to use smaller planes to reach more remote and mountainous parts of the country.
The Civil Aviation Authority report said that aircraft with 19 seats or less are more prone to accidents due to these challenges.
The capital of Kathmandu is Nepal’s primary transit hub, from which many of these short flights depart.
The airport in the city of Lukla in northeastern Nepal is often referred to as most dangerous airport in the world, Known as the Gateway to Everest, the airport’s runway is perched on a cliff between mountains, falling directly into a ditch at the end.
The lack of investment in aging aircraft only adds to the flight risk.
In 2015, the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, Priority to Nepal’s help Through its Aviation Safety Implementation Support Partnership. Two years later, ICAO and Nepal announced a partnership to address security concerns.
While the country has improved its safety standards in recent years, challenges still remain.
In 2016, a Tara Air flight crashed While flying on the same route as the plane lost on Sunday. That incident involved a recently acquired Twin Otter aircraft that was flying in clear conditions.
and, in early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing And a fire broke out, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.