Civil Aviation Authority in Bangladesh (Caab) chairman Naim Hassan has said the prone into US-Bangla plane crash might take more than one year to complete.
“Normally, investigation into any plane crash takes one year,” said the Caab chairman while talking to reporters recently.
As the plane crash took place in Nepal, they are investigating the incident and a Bangladesh team will assist them, he said.
Hassan said, “The Black Box will be sent to Canada, while other parts of the aircraft will be tested. It’ll take time to complete all the formalities.”
It is not possible to set a fixed time to end the probe, he said.
“The identification process of the deceased is underway, and it will be completed soon. The autopsy of the 19 bodies has already been completed,” said the Caab chairman.
US-Bangla Airlines flight BS211, which flew from Dhaka to Kathmandu carrying 67 passengers and four crew members, crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in the capital of Himalayan country of Nepal on March 12, leaving 51 people, including 26 Bangladeshis, dead.
A Nepali travel agent who survived a plane crash earlier this week said passengers should refrain from sleeping during landing and takeoff.
Dayaram Tamrakar said from his hospital bed that he was able to get up from his seat, break down the emergency door and help other passengers because he was alert.
“I was able to grab on to my seat during the crash, quickly release seat belts, spring up from the seat and have the sense to force open the emergency door because I was alert,” Tamrakar said, adding he was able to help other passengers before he heard there was fire and decided to jump off the plane.
He thinks that it was the quick thinking of him and other fellow passengers to swiftly break down the emergency exit that helped save so many lives.
Twenty people survived the crash on Monday that killed 51.
“When someone said there was fire it was time to get off the plane. I jumped and looked back and saw the tail part was already on fire,” he said. “The army and emergency services were quick to respond; that probably also helped save so many people.”
“I am just thankful that I am alive, although some of my friends did not make it alive,” he said. He was traveling in a group of 14 travel operators in Nepal whom the airline had flown to Bangladesh for an award function.
Relatives of the victims have identified 17 of the 26 Bangladeshis who died in the plane crash in Nepal.
Bangladesh ambassador in Nepal Mashfee Binte Shams confirmed the number of identified Bangladeshi victims yesterday.
She said the bodies would be sent back to Dhaka on Tuesday.
She hoped it would be possible to identify the bodies of the remaining victims.
Tests will be conducted to match DNA profiles of those whom the relatives would not be able to identify finally, she said, adding the bodies would be in Nepal until the results of the tests were out.
Daya Ram Tamrakar, a survivor from US-Bangla plane crash, speaks during an interview as his wife and son stand next to him, while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kathmandu yesterday.
