Search operations conclude in Nepal plane crash

Kathmandu, Jan 19 (EFE).- The Nepalese authorities on Thursday called off the search to find the remains of the last missing passenger after a Yeti Airlines flight carrying 72 people on board crashed during the weekend without leaving survivors.

The airline spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula told EFE that the authorities had concluded the search and rescue operations, while one body remains missing.

However, he added that DNA tests will determine if the remains of the person is “mixed” with those of others.”

So far, 47 bodies have been identified, of which “30 have already been handed over to their families,” Bartaula said.

The remains of those aboard the plane were scattered at the site of the accident, making DNA tests necessary, which led to a delay in identification of the bodies.

This delay led to complaints from the victims’ families, who were waiting in front of the hospital where the tests were being carried out.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met with the grieving families near the hospital on Thursday, and order for the autopsies to be completed faster.

More than 900 people have died from aviation accidents in the Himalayan country since November 1960, when it recorded its first plane crash, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The latest air accident was the third deadliest one in Nepal’s history, behind two others in 1992, in which 192 and 113 people died, respectively. EFE

sp-hbc/sc