A De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter of Nepal Airlines, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Wolfgang Soshin Drechsler. CC BY-SA 3.0

An ill-fated Twin Otter plane crashed on 16 February 2014 killing all 18 on board in the forests of Masine in mid-western Nepal.

The wreckage of the state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation plane, which went missing after 1 p.m. Nepal Standard Time (NST) on Sunday, was found on Monday morning by local youths who had been there to play with the snow, reports Nepali online newspaper Setopati. The aircraft may have hit a mountain, which caused the crash.

#NAC‘s 9N-ABB #planecrash site. 2 KM west of SupaDeurali temple of #Arghakhanchidisrtict, mid-west #Nepal.pic.twitter.com/uOGSbL6DPf

— PHALANO™ (@phalano) February 17, 2014

Medico, a medical doctor from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), tweeted:

दुखदखवर।जेनहुनुथ्योत्यहीसुनियोयतात….. नेवानिकोबिमानमारहेकासबै१८ यात्रुकोमृत्युरे….. #planecrash#nepal

— MedicO (@SapphireG29) February 16, 2014

Sad news. What not had to happen, got to know the same. All 18 aboard the Nepal Airlines Corporation plane died.

Journalist Bhabasagar Ghimire tweeted an earlier picture of the plane:

२०६७कोवैशाख११गतेकादिनयोजहाजलेजुम्लाबिमानस्थालमानेपालगञ्जलैजानुपर्नेबिरामीओसार्नखोज्दैथियो। :( pic.twitter.com/dfBLLSjHOy

— Bhabasagar (@Bhabasagar) February 17, 2014

On 24 April 2010 the plane was to ferry a patient to Nepalgunj from Jumla airport.

The plane was 43 years old and was carrying 15 passengers and 3 crew members, blog Mysansar reported. Among them were a Danish national and a child. The aeroplane was scheduled to be decommissioned in 2014.

Rajan Bhattarai from Germany tweeted:

Sad to learn about yet another #planecrash in #Nepal. 43yrs old aircraft of NAC -sums up the story but blame will be on bad weather & pilot

— RajanBhattarai(@RBstrikes21) February 16, 2014

The weather throughout the country was very bad on the day the plane crashed:

यस्तोमौसमभएकोबेलाजहाजचलाउनदिनेलाईतसिधैजेलकोच्नुपर्ने :( #RIP#planecrash#nepal

— Prabin Poudelप्रविण (@LeoPrabin) February 16, 2014

The ones who permitted to fly the plane in such weather should be jailed.

Although being old, the plane had had only one incident of slipping on the runway of Jumla airport on 25 June 1992. The plane was also hijacked by Congress workers 40 years ago to loot the 30 lakhs of Indian rupees (about 4,800 US dollars) that the plane was carrying, reported Mysansar.

The Nepalese aviation industry has seen a huge number of accidents in the recent years, with two fatal plane crashes each year from 2010 to 2012. The European Union has banned all airlines from Nepal to fly into the 28 European nations.

More than 700 people have been killed Since 1949 #PlaneCrash#Nepal

— Anamol Mani (@anamolmani) February 17, 2014

Social media was awash with the news about the crash and condolence messages. Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai tweeted:

Shocked by NAC plane crash & loss of 18 precious human lives. My heartfelt condolence to the bereaved families!

— BaburamBhattarai (@brb_laaldhwoj) February 17, 2014

Pyasi tweeted:

सगरमाथाचढ्नअदम्यसाहसचाहिन्छभनिन्छ, त्योभन्दाहजारौगुणासाहसचैनेपालीप्लेनचढ्नचाहिनेभो!

— Pyasi (@pyasi_37) February 17, 2014

[They say] a lot of courage is needed to scale Mount Everest. Seems thousand times more courage is needed to travel in a Nepali plane.

Indeed, the air journeys in Nepali skies seem more dangerous with the recent air accidents.