KATHMANDU,
All that could be heard at the forensic department of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital since last night until Tuesday afternoon were the cries of bereaved family members and relatives of those who died in the ill-fated Buddha Air plane crash on Sunday morning.
None of the relatives, who emerged out of the morgue after identifying the body of their beloved, had dry pairs of eyes. While most of them seemed struggling hard against the tears rolling down their swollen eyes, some were calling the names of the deceased—crying like babies, hammering their fists on walls and on their own chests.
Even heart wrenching was the scene at 3.30 pm when two children aged around eight to ten years broke down, tightly hugging their guardians after they came out of the morgue. The guardians seemed confused whether to wipe their own tears or to console the small kids, reportedly the nieces of the deceased. It was the Karmacharya family, which lost three of its members—two sons, Niranjan and Jagajan—and former’s wife Sarada. None of the bereaved family members liked to share anything then.
According to the security guard, Lal Thapa, deployed in the forensic department, the scene has been similar since around 9 pm. last night after the family members of two of the deceased crew members—co-pilot Padma Adhikari and airhostess Ashmita Shrestha—first came there to claim the bodies of the dead kin.
Dr Pramod Shrestha, the head of the forensic department, said the hospital authority started the identification process of the bodies after autopsies were over on Monday evening.
“The bodies of Adhikari and Shrestha were handed over to the kin on Monday after their identification,” he said. “Bodies of Captain JB Tamrakar and eight Indian nationals including K Thyagarajan, RM Meenakshi Sundaram, Kattoor Mahalingam, T Dansekaran, M Maruthachalam, AK Krisunan, VM Kankasabesan, M Manimaran were also released Tuesday morning.”
All eight were from Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu. According to a news report that appeared in the Indian national daily The Hindu in the September 25 edition, they came to Kathmandu last Saturday and checked in the Grand Hotel.
Shrestha said the bodies of Indian couple, Pankaj and Chhaya Mehta, who had been working in the UN in Nepal, are still in the hospital.
The bodies of American nationals Andrew Wade and Natalie Neilan and Japanese Uejima Toshinori will be released after their families come to claim them. “Respective embassies have contacted us. The family will come here by Wednesday,” he said.
The 9NAE K1900 beech-craft crashed at Kotdanda near Godawari on the northeastern outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley. The plane carrying 19 people on board was two minutes away from the Tribhuvan International Airport when the accident took place.
The actual reason of the crash is still unknown as the three-member probe committee is yet to come up with its report.
