According to Teknath Sitaula, an official at Kathmandu Airport, the black boxes were found to be in good condition upon examination. He stated that they appeared to be undamaged on the exterior.
Authorities said they don't expect to find any more survivors. The Yeti Airlines ATR 72, carrying 72 passengers, crashed into a steep gorge, disintegrated upon impact, and caught fire as it approached the city of Pokhara on Sunday.
"We have so far sent 63 bodies to the hospital,"
police officer AK Chhetri said on Monday.
"Due to fog, the search has been paused. We will continue the search after one or two hours when the weather clears,"
he continued.
Officials announced that the bodies would be returned to the families after undergoing identification and examination processes. The crash site was littered with debris from the twin-engine turboprop airliner, including the twisted remains of its wings and passenger seats. Emergency responders arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and attempted to extinguish the raging fires that were producing thick plumes of black smoke.
Among the 72 passengers, 15 were foreign nationals, including five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, one Argentinian, one Australian, one French, and one Irish.
The ATR 72 aircraft was en route from Kathmandu to Pokhara when the crash occurred shortly before 11 am local time on Sunday.
The aviation industry in Nepal has seen significant growth in recent years. It plays a vital role in providing transportation to remote and hard-to-reach areas, as well as transporting foreign mountain climbers. However, the industry has been plagued by poor safety standards due to inadequate training and maintenance.
The European Union has banned all Nepalese carriers from its airspace due to safety concerns. Nepal also has some of the world's most challenging runways, located in the proximity of snow-capped peaks, and the weather conditions are often unpredictable and difficult to forecast, especially in the mountains, where thick fog can unexpectedly obscure the entire view.
The deadliest aviation accident in Nepal's history occurred in 1992 when all 167 people on a Pakistan International Airlines flight died in a crash while approaching Kathmandu. Since 2000, nearly 350 people have lost their lives in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal, which is home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
