KATMANDU
\nRelatives of the 18 dead in an airplane crash in Nepal have yet to hear from the government or the airline on the possible cause of the disaster, they said a day after the small jet went down during take-off at the airport in Katmandu, the capital.
\nThe incident has cast a spotlight on the mountainous, landlocked nation\u2019s poor record on air safety, with almost 360 people killed since 2000 in plane and helicopter crashes.
\nThe 50-seater CRJ-200 aircraft that crashed this week was operated by Saurya Airlines, and was ferrying 15 technicians, two crew and two of a technician\u2019s family to the central city of Pokhara, where it was scheduled for regular maintenance.
\nOnly the captain survived after it crashed in a field beside the runway and caught fire.
\n\u201cNobody has contacted us,\u201d said Krishna Bahadur Magar, a relative of Nava Raj Ale who was a ground handler at Saurya and died in the crash.
\n\u201cOur relative was a member of the Saurya Airlines family,\u201d Magar said. \u201cWhy is the airline now behaving as if they don\u2019t care about him?\u201d
\nMagar was among the dozens who crowded into a narrow alley outside the forensic unit of Katmandu\u2019s Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital on Thursday, waiting for authorities to release the bodies of the dead.
\nSome said doctors had told them they would not receive the remains of loved ones before Saturday, while those bodies charred beyond recognition would require DNA tests to be identified, a process that could take two weeks.
\nThe victims\u2019 families felt as if Saurya officials were \u201cdeliberately hiding\u201d from them, said Jageswar Giri, whose brother-in-law, Uddhab Puri, died in the crash.
\n\u201cWe want to know what technical problems the aircraft was facing, why so many people were on it yesterday, and why it was decided that maintenance work would be done in Pokhara instead of Katmandu where the plane was grounded,\u201d he said.
\nOfficials from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) have said the plane was being sent to Pokhara because its new airport was equipped with aircraft maintenance hangars.
\nResponding to the families\u2019 questions, the regulator said it was the airline\u2019s responsibility to co-ordinate with them.
\n\u201cIt was not a passenger flight,\u201d said CAAN spokesperson Gyanendra Bhul. \u201cSaurya Airlines has officially said all people on board the plane were their staff, so they should co-ordinate with the family members.\u201d
\nThe airline did not respond to telephone calls and messages from Reuters seeking comment.
\nA government panel set up on Wednesday to investigate the crash will submit a report within 45 days.
\nNepal\u2019s worst crash in 1992 killed 167. Last January, 72 people died when a Yeti Airlines plane crashed just before landing in Pokhara.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KATMANDU Relatives of the 18 dead in an airplane crash in Nepal have yet to hear from the government or the airline on the possible cause of the disaster, they said a day after the small jet went down during take-off at the airport in Katmandu, the capital. The incident has cast a spotlight on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-420720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n