Nepal plane crash: Clues of missing aircraft found from pilot's phone location

Hours after a small Nepalese passenger plane with 22 people, including four Indians on board crashed into the country's mountainous region, the missing plane has been traced. Tara Air's 9N-AET, which went missing has been reported to have crashed in Kowang in Mustang district of Nepal.

The phone location of the pilot, Captain Prabhakar Ghimire, was tracked by search and rescue teams with the help of Nepal Telecom, a local media report stated. The aircraft was searched with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) network. 

Read | Nepal plane mishap: Missing flight's crash site discovered, rescue operations underway

How the missing aircraft was traced through a phone call?

While search operation was underway for the missing 9N-AET aircraft, call was made to the pilot of the plane which could be heard ringing. On this basis, the Telecommunication Department of Nepal traced the location of the plane. After this, the Mi 17 helicopter of the Nepalese Army has been sent to that location.

According to Nepali media reports, the aircraft was being flown by Captain Prabhakar Ghimire. The crashed plane took off at 10:15 am from Pokhara, and lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes later, according to an airline spokesperson.

"The cell phone of Captain Ghimire of the missing aircraft has been ringing and Nepal Army’s helicopter has landed in the possible accident area after tracking the captain’s phone from Nepal Telecom," Prem Nath Thakur, general manager of the Tribhuvan International Airport was quoted as saying by MyRepublica newspaper website.

After detecting the location from the GPS, the helicopter of the Nepal Army has been sent. The plane disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Pokhara in Nepal in the morning. The plane was going from tourist spot Pokhara to Jomson. The aircraft belonged to the 9N-AET Tara airline. The plane lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes after takeoff.

Indians on board identified

Tara Airlines spokesperson Sudarshan Bartula said that there were 4 Indians, two Germans, 13 Nepalis and three crew members on board the plane. The four Indians have been identified as Ashok Kumar Tripathi, Dhanush Tripathi, Ritika Tripathi and Vaibhavi Tripathi. The search operation is going on to reach the site.

Rescue operation delayed due to weather 

According to the Nepali portal, an army helicopter has been landed on the banks of the river near Narthang Monastery, the likely crash site. There are 10 army personnel, 3 civil aviation officers in this helicopter. Chiranjabi Rana, Chief District Officer, Kathmandu Post, said that due to bad weather, relief and rescue operations may be delayed.

Police team has also been sent there. But where the plane crash happened, there is no population. As soon as the weather improves, the helicopter will begin aerial operation. The aircraft had lost contact with the tower from the sky above Ghode Pani on the Pokhara-Jomsom air route, aviation sources said.