Kunal Bahl recalled his shocking Nepal flight experience.
After a passenger plane of Yeti Airlines crashed in Nepal killing at least 70 of the 72 people on board, the co-founder of Snapdeal Kunal Bahl has recalled an instance when he flew to Pokhara, Nepal.
Sharing a news article on the deadly aviation tragedy, Mr Bahl, in a tweet wrote, “This is really really sad. A few years ago on my flight to Pokhara, when I told the stewardess that airflow was coming from the corner of a window while airborne, she brought a tissue paper & stuffed the crevice”.
The co-founder added that he “decided to never fly to Pokhara again expecting the worst one day”.
The Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport on Sunday and plunged into a river gorge while landing at the new airport in Pokhara. The plane was carrying 72 people including five Indians, who are feared dead.
According to the Nepal Police, rescuers recovered two more bodies on Monday taking the death count in the crash to 70. The black box of the aircraft has been handed over to the Civil Aviation Authority officials by the Nepal Army. The army also handed over the flight data recorder to the authorities.
Search operations were underway on Tuesday for the two passengers who are still unaccounted for after the tragedy. Rescuers used drones and climbed down a 200 metres deep gorge to look for the missing persons.
“There is thick fog here now. We are sending search and rescue personnel using ropes into the gorge where parts of the plane fell and was in flames," Ajay K.C., a police official in Pokhara, told Reuters.
The official, who is part of the rescue efforts, added that the passengers included children and some of them might have been burnt and died, and “may not be found out”. He said that they will continue to search for them.