A 9N-AIG Dornier of Agni Air crashed in Marfa VDC-5 near Jomsom Airport in Mustang district on Monday, killing 15 people. Six people survived the crash.
Airline officials said 18 passengers and three crew members were on board the flight that had left Pokhara for Jomsom.
This is Agni Air’s second crash with casualties within less then two years. Pilot-in-command Prabhu Sharan Pathak and co-pilot Suman Dongol Maharjan and 13 Indians died in the chartered flight, government officials said. Jomsom Airport officials said the crash occurred at an elevation of 2,824 metres. Two Danes, R Andreas and T Emilie, three Indians—Tirumala Kidambi Sreekanth, Tirumala Kidambi Sreevardhini and Tirumala Kidambi Sreepada—and air hostess Roshani Haiju were the survivors. The crash occurred shortly after the captain reported some ‘light indication problem’ in the cockpit to the air traffic control (ATC) in Jomsom before landing. “The pilot-in-command contacted the air traffic control room at 9: 46 am,” said Shiva Sharma Upadhaya, ATC chief at Jomsom Airport. Subsequently, the captain informed the ATC that he was diverting the plane to Pokhara from over the runway.*
Officials said the captain may have feared landing as the light indicator was not working properly and that could sometimes lead to the wheels “locking up” while landing. “All the things happened within 40 seconds when the captain decided to divert the aircraft and made a sharp turn,” Upadhaya said, adding that the plane’s wing and nose hit a hillock while turning and
then dipped into a gorge nearby.
The pilot may have become nervous as he did not follow the “standard procedures” when diverting the plane, sources said. “The pilot should have turned the aircraft to the right of the runway where there was enough space, but instead the plane turned left to the narrow valley,” the sources claimed.
As the impact of the crash was less on the rear side of the aircraft, 10 people had survived, four of whom died later, Upadhaya said.*
“Had it been a wide turn instead of a sharp one, all the passengers would have been safe,” Upadhaya said.
Meanwhile, in separate statements, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and the Indian Embassy expressed condolences to families who lost their loved ones in the tragic incident and wished for the speedy recovery of the injured.
PROBE COMMITTEE FORMED
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) has formed a five-member committee under former Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), Medini Prasad Sharma, to investigate the crash.
Senior captain Sunil Pradhan of Buddha Air; senior engineer Ashok Maharjan of Tara Air and Dr Ranjit Singh Baral, coordinator of the Aviation Medical Board, are members of the panel. Joint-secretary at the MoTCA Suresh Acharya is the member-secretary of the panel. The committee has been given 90 days to file a report.
*Air hostess, two Danes, three Indians survive accident**
*Dornier craft was headed for Jomsom from Pokhara