Kathmandu | Captain Manish Raj Shakya, the lone survivor of a deadly plane crash in Nepal that killed 18 other people on board, was saved after the cockpit of the aircraft was sheared off by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft went up in flames, a media report said on Thursday.
The Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft of Saurya Airlines, carrying 19 people, including two crew members, technical staff of the airline and a child and his mother caught fire shortly after taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here on Wednesday.
The aircraft was bound for the Pokhara International Airport for regular maintenance service.
Of the deceased, 15 died on the spot while three died during treatment at a local hospital, authorities said.
Airport security personnel said when the plane hit the container, the front part of the cockpit got stuck in it, while the rest of the plane fell to the ground reaching another side of the ground.
According to Deputy Inspector General and Chief of TIA Airport Security Office Ram Dutt Joshi, Captain Shakya, 37, was rescued from inside the container which was on the TIA premises.
“We rescued Captain Shakya from inside the container,” The Rising Nepal newspaper quoted DIG Joshi as saying.
Doctors have initiated an investigation into the brain scars of Shakya.
Shakya is currently receiving treatment at Kathmandu Medical College (KMC).
According to the doctors involved in treatment, although the injuries in different parts of the body and the broken bones at two places of the backbone have not caused serious problems, the doctors are investigating to find out the cause of the scars on Shakya's brain.
Neurosurgeon Dr Amit Thapa said that he could provide further information only after the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of Shakya's brain scars.
Captain Shakya's health condition showed improvement on Thursday as compared to Wednesday. The doctors said he is “free from danger" and can speak. He can also consume liquid food.
According to KMC sources, Captain Shakya sustained several internal injuries despite not being burnt in the fire. The doctors are preparing for surgery to address his broken bones.
In solemn tribute to the 18 lives lost, the Nepal government has decreed that the national flag will be flown at half-mast on Thursday.
In response to the tragedy, a five-member probe commission has been formed to investigate the incident. The commission will be led by Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, former Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
The commission is tasked with delivering its report and recommendations within 45 days to prevent similar accidents in the future.
Authorities are conducting an autopsy on the 18 people who lost their lives in the accident.
The postmortem of the deceased began on Wednesday evening at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH). The postmortem of seven dead bodies has been completed.
According to the TUTH, the dead bodies will be handed over to the families after the postmortem of all bodies is completed.
However, there was a delay in the postmortem process due to excessive burns on the victims' bodies. The TUTH said that it has been taking at least four hours to complete the postmortem of one body, myrepublica.com reported.
The TUTH administration has assigned 25 doctors for the postmortem.
Meanwhile, family members and friends of the victims on Wednesday gathered at the TUTH and some of them alleged that the airlines and civil aviation authority permitted the flight despite knowing that the plane had technical problems.
Dirga Bahadur Khadka, a grand-uncle of co-pilot Sushant Katwal, said: "We suspect that the company put pressure on the pilots into flying the plane.
"Otherwise, no one would like to fly a plane with technical problems,” he told The Kathmandu Post newspaper.
“A question also arises about the civil aviation authority, the aviation sector regulator,” he further said. “How could it allow planes with technical problems to fly?” Similarly, Gyanendra Khadgi, who lost his brother-in-law Purna Ratna Shahi, a technician of Saurya Airlines, echoed Khadka.
“This is complete negligence on the part of civil aviation to allow the flight of a plane with a technical issue,” he told the Post.
Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Wednesday directed the relevant authorities to take measures to prevent tragic incidents like plane crashes in the future.
After visiting the crash site, Prime Minister Oli received a briefing at the rescue coordination centre of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. He emphasised that everyone must work to ensure such incidents do not recur. He urged the concerned authorities to determine the cause of the incident, whether it was due to human error or a technical failure.
He described the incident as very tragic and unimaginable.
According to Nepal's civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air crashes in the country since the first disaster was recorded in August 1955.
