The US State Department says two Americans have been killed in a plane crash in Nepal

No one survived the crash, authorities said Monday, and authorities on the ground are still examining the wreckage to find out what caused the plane to go down.

“Our thoughts are with the families of those on board,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing on Wednesday. “The United States stands ready to support Nepal in any way we can at this difficult hour.”

The Washington Post previously reported that a statement from the airline indicated this At least 53 Nepalese and 15 foreigners were on board – With people from India, Russia, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, France and Ireland.

Price did not name the Americans and two immigrants who died in the United States.

Post reported on The identities of some of those killed in the plane crash: an Australian teacher, an Argentinian hotel owner, a British ballerina who celebrated her 34th birthday the day before, a Nepalese folk singer who is traveling to a local festival, and a US-trained co-pilot whose husband also died in a plane crash.

Nepal Plane Crash Victims: Folk Dancer, Singer and Outdoor Enthusiast

Yeti Airlines Captain Anju Khatiwada went to Toulouse, France, in 2021 to train on the ATR 72 — the twin-turboprop helicopter that took part in Sunday’s flight — and has nearly 6,400 hours of flying experience, spokesperson Sudarshan Partola told The Post on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport said officials have recovered both the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. The data logger will be sent to France for analysis, mentioned Associated Press.

Nepal has experienced a series of aviation disasters over the years. Part of the problem is that the country is landlocked Homepage to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world.

“Diversity of weather patterns combined with hostile terrain are the major challenges surrounding aircraft operations in Nepal,” according to a Safety Report 2019 From the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority.

The manufacturer of the plane that crashed, ATR Aircraft, is headquartered in France. According to the company’s website, the first ATR 72 flew in October 1988.

Reuters mentioned that nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal since 2000. Bloomberg News mentioned The European Union has banned all Nepal-based airlines from its airspace since 2013, citing safety concerns.

Crash in the Himalayas 22 people were killed In May, they were on a twin-propeller plane of Tara Air, a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines.