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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