Kin Of 4 UP Residents Killed In Plane Crash Leave For Kathmandu To Receive Bodies

The family members of four men from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh who were killed in a plane crash in Nepal left for Kathmandu on Monday to receive the bodies, a district administration official said.

"The bodies will be handed over to them after due identification and completion of all formalities. The bodies will be brought to the district by road. It might take 2-3 days," Ghazipur District Magistrate Aryaka Akhauri said. "One each from the families of victims and village head have been sent to Nepal by road by the administration. Overall 8-9 people have been sent by the administration and they will reach Nepal by tomorrow," the officer said.

She said two district administration officials are accompanying the family members to help them in paper work on the border and in Nepal. Embassy officials are also assisting in the process, she said. The four Ghazipur residents on the ill-fated plane were identified as Sonu Jaiswal, 35, Abhishek Kushwaha, 25, Vishal Sharma, 22, and Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27. The district magistrate said the families of the victims would be provided due assistance from the chief minister's discretionary fund and other government schemes.

Five Indians, including the four from Ghazipur, were on board the Yeti Airlines plane which crashed in Pokhara on Sunday. All 72 people on board the aircraft are believed to be dead as rescue workers made little progress in finding any survivors on Monday.

Officials said 41 bodies out of 69 recovered so far in Pokhra have been identified as Nepal observed a national day of mourning on Monday. Rescuers struggled to recover the remaining three bodies from the crash site due to the difficult terrain. In a statement, the Yeti Airlines said that a Nepali Army helicopter has been in Pokhara to airlift bodies of foreign nationals, crew members and those whose identity has not been established to Kathmandu for forensic examination.