Anju Khatiwada had paid for her flight training with the insurance money she received after her husband’s death.
Last Sunday’s Yeti Airlines Flight 691 accident in Nepal killed the flight’s co-pilot along with others Anju Khatiwada.
Adding to the tragedy of 44-year-old Khatiwada’s death is the fact that her ex-husband Dipak Pokhrel died 16 years earlier while serving as a co-pilot on a flight with the same airline.
Among other things, the British Broadcasting Corporation reports on the matter BBC (switch to another service) and a newspaper The New York Times (you are moving to another service).
The pioneer trained as a pilot after her husband’s death
Pokhrel, a man from Khatiwada, died in the accident of a small plane transporting food to the city of Jumla in the western part of Nepal in 2006. Nine people died in the accident.
Khatiwada had decided to train as a pilot after becoming a single parent after her husband’s death. She reportedly paid for her flight training with insurance money she had received due to her husband’s death.
– She was a determined woman who pursued her dreams and fulfilled her husband’s dreams, a family member Santosh Sharma told the BBC.
According to Sharma, after much adversity, Khatiwada managed to train himself as a pilot in the United States. After this, Khatiwada started working for Yeti Airlines in 2010.
About the airline, Khatiwada is said to have been a pioneer. She was one of the airline’s only six female pilots. He had a wealth of flying experience – nearly 6,400 hours.
– He worked as a captain for the airline and also flew solo. She was a brave woman, an airline spokeswoman Sudarshan Bartaula commented on the matter to the BBC.
Flying conditions in Nepal are difficult
Khatiwada was the co-pilot on Yeti Airlines Flight 691, which crashed into a ravine near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal on Sunday. All 72 passengers on the plane are believed to have died in Nepal’s worst air crash in 30 years.
The cause of the accident is currently unclear.
Flight safety in Nepal is especially weakened by the country’s mountainous terrain and the unpredictable weather caused by it.
According to The New York Times, Nepal has been able to improve its flight safety rating in UN surveys in recent years. Despite this, the country is said to still have serious deficiencies in air traffic control, the investigation of dangerous situations and the organization of improving safety standards.
Nearly 350 people have died in plane crashes in Nepal this millennium.
The European Union has banned all Nepalese airlines from entering its airspace for security reasons.
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