During a courtesy call held at Baluwatar last year, the then-Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba received the Pokhara Regional International Airport from the former Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
The Pokhara International Airport was inaugurated two weeks ago by Nepal’s newly appointed Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and was constructed with assistance from China. It was the location of the Sunday fatal crash of a Nepalese passenger plane carrying 72 people.
The airport, which was constructed against the pristine Annapurna Mountain Range, was officially opened on January 1, 2023.
China’s cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) included the flagship project.
According to the Kathmandu Post newspaper, the Nepal government signed a USD 215.96 million soft loan agreement with China in March 2016 to construct the airport in this tourist hub.
During a courtesy call held at Baluwatar last year, the then-Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba received the Pokhara Regional International Airport from the former Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
Prachanda stated that aerial connectivity is the most efficient method of connectivity for a landlocked nation like Nepal during the inauguration ceremony of the airport.
He stated, “Pokhara’s relationship with the international region has been established with the opening of this airport.”
The Yeti Airlines plane went down on the Seti River bank between the old and new airports on Sunday around 11 a.m. as it was landing at the Pokhara airport.
There were four crew members and 68 passengers in all.
The passengers contained five Indians.
The Himalayan Times reported that the wreckage site has yielded at least 32 bodies.
MyRepublica reported that the airplane had been granted permission to land by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
“Preliminary information has indicated that the plane crashed for technical reasons, so weather was not a factor. Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at CANN, was quoted in the report as saying that flames were observed in the plane while it was still in the air.
“In ten seconds, the plane would have reached the runway. However, the airport’s air traffic controller informed MyRepublica newspaper that there was an accident in the middle of the flight.
To investigate the plane crash, a five-member commission of inquiry was established by the Nepali government on Sunday.
