Nepal Plane Crash: Deceased co-pilot’s husband also flew same airline, died in crash 16 years ago

Anju Khatiwada, the co-pilot of Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Nepal’s Pokhara, was seconds away from realising her dream of becoming a chief pilot. But her hopes and dreams never came to realisation.

Minutes before landing at the Pokhara International Airport on Sunday, the ATR-72 plane carrying 72 people crashed at the forest land located on the banks of the Seti River, making it one of the worst air crashes in Nepal’s history. So far, the officials have recovered 68 bodies, while the rescue operations are on to retrieve the remaining ones.

The plane was piloted by senior Capitan Kamal KC and Anju was the co-pilot on the aircraft.

Anju joined Yeti Airlines in 2010 following the footsteps of her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, a pilot from the same airline who had died in a similar crash four years ago when a small passenger plane he was flying for the domestic carrier went down minutes before landing.

"Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane of Yeti Airlines in Jumla," airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told Reuters news agency.

"She got her pilot training with the money she got from the insurance after her husband's death," Bartaula said.

Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, was the co-pilot of fateful Yeti Airlines’ 9N AEQ aircraft which had crashed on June 21, 2006. Six passengers and four crew members had died in the deadly crash, Nepali Times newspaper reported.

It was on its way from Nepalganj to Jumla via Surkhet at that time.

Khatiwada, a pilot with more than 6,400 hours of flying time, earlier flown the popular tourist route from the capital, Kathmandu, to the country's second-largest city, Pokhara.

While the body of Kamal KC, the captain of the flight, has been recovered and identified, Kathiwada's remains are yet to be identified. However, she is feared dead, Bartaula said.

Source: WION / CNN / Agencies