Search Intensifies For Last Missing Person In Nepal Plane Crash: Army

The search for the lone missing person in the Nepal plane crash intensified on Friday, Nepal Army officials said, as the postmortem of the remaining victims continued here at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.

A Yeti Airlines aircraft with 72 people on board, including five Indians, plunged into a river gorge in the resort city of Pokhara on January 15.

The five Indians, all from Uttar Pradesh, have been identified as Abhisekh Kushwaha, 25, Bishal Sharma, 22, Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 27, Sonu Jaiswal, 35, and Sanjaya Jaiswal.

Sanjaya Jaiswal's body was handed over to his relatives who returned to India, hospital sources said. So far, only 71 dead bodies have been recovered and the search is on for the remaining person.

On Thursday, 12 bodies including one belonging to an Indian national were handed over to the family members.

The remaining bodies will be handed over their families once the postmortem is over, hospital sources said.

Nepal Army on Friday said that it has intensified the search operations to locate the lone missing person.

The Nepal Army officials conducted search operations from the Seti River in Pokhara to Damauli and Kharenitar of Tanhu district looking for the remains of the crash.

The search will continue on Saturday, according to a press release issued by the Nepal Army.

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.

The Yeti Airlines tragedy in Pokhara on Sunday is the 104th crash in Nepali skies and the third biggest in terms of casualties.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)