Tara Air Flight 193

Tara Air Flight 193

Twin engine passenger aircraft on the ground

A DHC-6 of Tara Airlines, similar to the crashed aircraft
Accident summary
Date 24 February 2016 (2016-02-24)
Summary Under Investigation
Site Dana, Myagdi district, Nepal
Passengers 20
Crew 3
Fatalities 23 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter
Operator Tara Air
Registration 9N-AHH
Flight origin Pokhara Airport, Pokhara
Destination Jomsom Airport, Jomsom
PKR
Dana
JMO
A map showing the locations of Pokhara Airport (PKR), Jomson Airport (JMO) and Dana, the location where the crash site was found.

Tara Air Flight 193 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight, serving the route from Pokhara Airport in Pokhara, Nepal, to Jomsom Airport in Jomsom, Nepal. On 24 February 2016, eight minutes after take-off, the aircraft serving the flight, a Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter with registration 9N-AHH, went missing with 23 people on board.[1][2][3] Nepal's police and army dispatched three helicopters to search for the missing aircraft; the search was hampered by bad weather. Hours later, the wreckage was found near Dana village, Myagdi district, alongside several charred bodies. There were no survivors.[4] With 23 fatalities, this was Tara Air's deadliest aircraft crash, surpassing the 2010 Okhaldhunga Twin Otter crash which killed 22 people. The crash was also the twenty-second loss of a DHC-6 in Nepal, the seventh-deadliest aircraft crash in Nepal, and the world's fourth-deadliest accident involving a DHC-6.[5][6]

Aircraft

The DHC-6 Twin Otter was a Series 400 version built in 2012 by Viking Air with manufacturer's serial number 926.[7] In September 2015, it was delivered to Tara Air and registered 9N-AHH.[6][7][8]

Passengers

Of the 20 passengers on board, 18  including 2 children[9]  were from Nepal, one was from Hong Kong, and another was from Kuwait.[10]

Flight

The aircraft took off from Pokhara at 7:50 am local time. The normal flight duration on the route is 18 minutes. The control tower officers at Pokhara lost contact with the aircraft 10 minutes after takeoff,[10] the wreckage was found at Tirkhe Dhunga, Dana VDC of Myagdi district at 1:25 pm by a police team deployed from Dana Police Post.[9] Tara Air reported that the weather at both origin and destination airports was favourable.[10]

Recovery

Helicopters were used to search the route for hours, but rescue efforts were slowed down by poor weather conditions, including dense fog and heavy rain.[11] The wreckage was found burning after impacting a mountainside, with charred bodies visible inside.[12] Bishwa Raj Khadka, the district Chief of Police,[13] stated that personnel involved in the rescue operations had recovered 17 bodies from the crash site.[14]

Investigation

A "high level probe panel" was formed to investigate the crash.[2] The wreckage of the aircraft was found "in an area of some 200 meters [660 feet]",[15] in Solighopte in Myagdi District, a part of Dhaulagiri Zone.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. "Missing Tara Air plane with 23 onboard could have crashed in Myagdi's Rupse". The Kathmandu Post. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 Hradecky, Simon (24 February 2016). "Accident: Tara DHC6 near Pokhara on Feb 24th 2016, aircraft missing enroute". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  3. "Plane crash feared in Nepal as flight carrying 21 goes missing in mountains". The Guardian. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  4. "Missing Nepal Tara Air passenger plane 'found crashed in jungle' amid fears no one survived". 24 February 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016.
  5. "List of aircraft incidents and hull loss occurrences in Nepal". aviation-safety.net. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 "ASN Aircraft accident Viking Air DHC-6 Twin Otter 400 9N-AHH Dana, Myagdi district". aviation-safety.net. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Aircraft Registration Database Lookup". Airframes.org. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  8. "2016-02-24 Tara Air Twin Otter crashed in Myagdi District, Nepal". JACDEC. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  9. 1 2 "23 confirmed dead in Myagdi plane crash". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "Nepal small passenger plane wreckage found". BBC News. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  11. "Nepal plane crash: Tara Air plane goes down, 23 feared dead". CNN. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  12. "Nepal plane crash: All 23 on board killed as Tara Air flight crashes into Himalayan mountain". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  13. "Missing Tara Air plane found crashed in Myagdi (UPDATE)". Setopati. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  14. "All 23 onboard Tara Air dead, 17 bodies recovered". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  15. "Chances of finding Tara Air passengers alive slim: Nepal Army". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  16. "Wreckage of plane carrying 23 people found in Nepal". The Guardian. 24 February 2016.
  17. "Missing Nepal Tara Air passenger plane 'found crashed in jungle'". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
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