Kathmandu, Nepal – Prakash Sunuwar was an aspiring actor based in the capital Kathmandu. He worked as a trekking guide to help you achieve your dream. The 37-year-old used to reach out to foreign clients, taking them to exotic landscapes in the Himalayas.
On Sunday, he was accompanied by two German tourists, Meike Graf Grit and Uwe Willner, on a flight to Jomsom, a popular hiking and pilgrimage destination in the Mustang district on the border with Tibet.
But the Tara Air 9N-AET flight crashed less than 20 minutes after taking off from Pokhara, a bustling tourist town about 200 km (124 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu.
On Monday, Nepalese authorities were able to recover 21 bodies from the Sanosware Cliff wreck site at an altitude of 14,500 feet in Thasang-2, a village in Mustang District. The last body was recovered this Tuesday morning.
A Yeti Airlines Twin Otter passenger plane is seen at Lukla Airport, also known as Hillary Tensing Airport, near Everest (in the background) in eastern Nepal. [File: Gopal Chitrakar/Reuters]
Last Wednesday, Sunuwar told Roshan Bantawa, his best friend and dancing friend, that he will be out for a month taking some passengers to Pokhara and then to the Mustang.
“This was the last time everyone saw him in the dance studio, he didn’t know he wouldn’t be back,” Bantawa told Al Jazeera by phone. The two German tourists were also killed in the crash.
Bantawa has fond memories of his friend whose life was cut short by the Tara Air plane crash on Sunday.
“He was very active, he enjoyed singing, dancing, acting and also a good writer,” he said.
Sunuwar also had the insight to be in front of the camera and acted in two YouTube series, one called Khai Ke, Khai Ke (confusion and riddles in Nepali), with more than 18,000 subscribers to the channel and more than 10,000 views in an episode of the last two months. He also had over 3,500 followers on TikTok.
On Friday, in her latest Facebook post, she posted a picture with a dance move, “Show real life that everyone will dance happily. Show a fake life and fool yourself. I thank God that even all in these circumstances you are with me.
This photo published by Fishtail Air shows the wreckage of a plane in a gorge in Sanosware, Mustang District, near the mountain town of Jomsom, west of Kathmandu, Nepal [Fishtail Air via AP]
In Sunuwar, Okhaldhunga district in eastern Nepal, two children survive: a four-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter. Just two weeks ago, Sunuwar had organized his son’s birthday together with close friends and family.
On the same flight were seven members of Rajan Kumar Golay’s family. Accompanied by members of his family, including his elderly parents, Golay was on a pilgrimage to Muktinath, a sacred temple for both Hindus and Buddhists.
Golay’s Facebook was flooded with sincere obituaries of his loved ones and extended family and friends, with a photo of the dead family posing in front of a plane at the airport.
Her nephew Jwala Golay said the last time she saw her uncle and grandparents was a week ago. “I lost what I thought I would never lose. My uncle and my grandparents were very nice. They helped everyone and God took them out of us,” he told Al Jazeera in a text message.
‘Scattered Bodies’
In the early hours of Monday, Army helicopters and mountain rescue crews had resumed operations after it was hampered on Sunday due to bad weather.
More than 60 people trained by Nepal’s army, police and mountain guides have been pressured to recover their bodies in the wake of the air tragedy.
None of the 22 people on board the plane survived the crash, and Army spokesman Narayan Silwal posted videos and pictures showing the wreckage of the plane in Mustang District.
“Bodies were scattered everywhere with the impact of the crash that shattered the plane to pieces,” rescuer and international mountain guide Narendra Shahi told Al Jazeera.
Ten of the recovered bodies have been transported to Kathmandu and sent for an autopsy. The rest of the bodies could not be carried due to bad weather and are likely to be transported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Nepalese government on Monday set up a commission to investigate the crash.
“Although we believe the weather is the same, we still can’t confirm the exact cause of the accident. This needs to be investigated,” Chandra Lal Karn, deputy director general of the Authority, told Al Jazeera Deo. ‘Civil Aviation of Nepal.
Six of those on board were foreigners, including four Indians and two Germans. In 2016, Tara Air had a similar incident flying to the same destination: the crash had killed all 23 passengers on board.
Experts point out that Nepal’s extreme weather conditions and harsh terrain are the main causes of plane crashes in the country.
“Aviators can’t control the terrain or the weather. In high mountain areas, weather conditions are unpredictable while terrain is difficult, “Sajib Gautam, an aviation expert and former director general of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, told Al Jazeera.
“We have to go through extremely narrow gorges to get to most of the rural mountain airports and if the weather conditions get worse, we can’t take safe turns.”
Gautam also does not rule out other factors behind these accidents.
“Accidents happen in a chain of events. Therefore, there are many factors involved in an accident. Airlines, their workforce and their culture must also be blamed. We can’t just blame the pilot. “.