Tragic Story of woman who dies exactly as pilot husband 16 years ago
Colleagues have confirmed the tragic story of Anju Khatiwada, a co-pilot who died in the ill-fated Yeti Airlines’ Flight 691 which crashed and killed all 72 onboard on Sunday.
Following the crash regarded as the nation’s worst air disaster in 30 years, more information about the passengers continued to unravel about the Nepal crash which happened at a tourist town of Pokhara.
According to multiple sources, Anju, the co-pilot had studied to become a pilot to fulfill the dreams of her husband who was once a pilot.
The co-pilot’s late husband Dipak Pokhrel had died in a plane tragedy with Yeti Airlines about 16 years ago and it was his death that spurred Anju to pursue a career in aviation to fulfil his dreams.
Distraught at her loss, alone with their young child, Anju’s grief became her motivating force.
Flight 691 was meant to be her final assignment as aco-pilot, after which she would have been awarded her certificate. Unfortunately, she died in the plane crash.
A former classmate has since come on Twitter to identify with her:
“A trailblazer, Anju was one of just six women employed by the airline as pilots, and had flown close to 6,400 hours,” another colleague lamented.
“The aircraft was said to have crashed into a gorge making it difficult to bring the bodies. Search and rescue is ongoing. No survivors have been found yet,” Krishna Prasad Bhandari, an army spokesperson, said.
The army said that it had recovered over 30 bodies before it halted on Sunday evening.
This crash is Nepal’s worst aviation disaster since 1992, when 167 people died in a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Kathmandu crashed.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said that it was “saddened by the tragic loss of life”.
Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia at the border between China and India. It’s the 25th smallest country in Asia and ranked 95th in the world.
