15th March, 2018
Photo: BBC/BISHNU SAPKOTA
The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina has declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims of a deadly plane crash that occurred in Nepal early this week.
A flight operated by Dhaka-based private U.S.-Bangla Airlines with 71 people on board crashed and burst into flames at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday.
The death toll rose to 50 with the death of a pilot at a Nepal hospital on Tuesday, according to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.
Twenty-six of those killed were from Bangladesh.
Hasina, who cut short a trip to Singapore to return home after the accident, declared the day of mourning at a Wednesday meeting, her Press Officer, Ashraful Khokon said.
Special prayers will be offered at mosques, temples and churches across Bangladesh on Friday to seek salvation of the departed souls, the officer said.
A delegation led by Bangladesh’s Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister, Shahjahan Kamal left Dhaka for Kathmandu after the crash to bring back the bodies of the Bangladeshi passengers.
Authorities in Nepal have launched an investigation to determine the causes of the accident.
U.S.-Bangla Airlines has suspended its flight operations to Nepal for an indefinite period, the operator announced on Wednesday.
“Aircraft shortage has caused the suspension,’’ spokesman Kamrul Islam said in Dhaka on Wednesday, two days after the disaster.
Flight operations to other destinations, both domestic and international routes, will remain normal, he added.
U.S.-Bangla Airlines began operating domestic routes four years ago and now also operates flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, Doha and Guangzhou, China, according to the airline’s website.