KATHMANDU, Jan 18 — Despite Nepalese authorities saying the chance of finding survivors of the Yeti Airlines plane crash was ‘nil,’ drones were deployed in search of the one remaining passenger still unaccounted for on Tuesday.
Rescue and recovery efforts near Pokhara, where the turboprop plane went down on Sunday with 72 people on board, have been affected by inclement weather and difficult terrain.
Emergency teams have been rappelling down the cliffs, searching underwater, and utilizing drone technology to scour every part of the deep gorge near the crash for bodies of the last passengers.
Authorities began returning the bodies of victims to grieving family members on Tuesday. Nepal observed a day of mourning on Monday for the 68 passengers and four crew members who were on the plane.
Sunday’s plane crash was Nepal’s deadliest air accident in 30 years.
The flight plummeted into a gorge while attempting to land at the newly opened Pokhara International Airport in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains including Mount Everest, has challenging topography for aircraft.
