Nepal goverment forms probe committee to investigate cause of plane crash

The government of Nepal on Monday afternoon formed a four-member probe committee to investigate into the cause behind Sundays Twin Otter aircraft crash in the remote Himalayan country. A 20-seater small plan owned by Nepal's government-run aviation company, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), had been discovered in scattered pieces on Monday morning in a hilly district, with all 18 passengers on board killed. "The probe committee will study on the several aspects of the plane crash including the reason behind it and the course of action to be taken," Mohan Krishna Sapkota, spokesperson of Nepal' s Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) Ministry, told Xinhua. The probe committee has been given mandate of 60 days beginning from Monday. "The committee has also been asked to recommend about Nepal's air safety situation," added Sapkota. The committee, headed by Tri Ratna Manandhar, former director general at Civil Aviation Authority in Nepal (CAAN), Nepal's aviation regulator, comprises Prabhakar Prashad Ghimire, senior pilot, Meghendra Kumar Shrestha, senior aeronautical engineer and Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint secretary at the ministry. Meanwhile, government officials and security personnel have finally brought the dead bodies of all 18 passengers who were killed in the air crash to Kathmandu. Officials said medical officials at Kathmandu's Teaching Hospital have begun postmortem to find out the reason behind the death and also to ascertain the identities of the deceased.