The 72-seat Yeti Airlines aircraft, which crashed in Nepal's Pokhara on Sunday killing at least 44 passengers, was 15 years old. It was Nepal's worst crash in nearly five years.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, and four crew members, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
Facts about Yeti Airlines 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft:
1. The ATR72 is a widely used twin-engine turboprop plane manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus and Italy's Leonardo.
2. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said the Yeti Airlines aircraft was 15 years old and equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data.
3. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, according to its website. Yeti describes itself on its website as a leading domestic carrier of Nepal.
4. The Yeti Airlines flight 9N-ANC ATR-72 was on its third sortie since Sunday morning. It first flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara and back to Kathmandu earlier in the day.
{{/usCountry}}4. The Yeti Airlines flight 9N-ANC ATR-72 was on its third sortie since Sunday morning. It first flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara and back to Kathmandu earlier in the day.
{{/usCountry}}5. The Yeti Airlines aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33am. While landing at the Pokhara airport, the aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport.
(With inputs from agencies)