Xi sends messages over Nepal crash

President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent messages of condolence to his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid and Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari after a deadly passenger plane crash a day earlier left 49 dead and 22 injured.

In his messages, Xi said he learned that the crash caused heavy casualties.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people as well as in his own name, Xi offered his condolences to the victims and sympathy to their relatives.

Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang also expressed condolences to prime ministers in both Bangladesh and Nepal over the tragedy.

The Nepalese government on Tuesday formed a probe panel to investigate the cause of the crash. A statement from the prime minister's office said a six-member team headed by a former government secretary will gather the facts to determine the cause and prevent future incidents.

The Bombardier Dash Q-400 aircraft, with 71 people onboard, crashed while landing at Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday afternoon.

The UBG211 flight was en route to Kathmandu from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The Chinese embassy said on Tuesday that a Chinese man was among the 49 people killed in the crash.

The incident took place due to the pilot's "missed approach", authorities said.

Of the 67 passengers onboard, 33 were from Nepal, 32 from Bangladesh, one from China and one from the Maldives, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The injured are receiving treatment at local hospitals in Kathmandu. Officials said that the death toll may increase.

The pilot did not follow the control tower's instructions and approached the runway from the wrong direction, the Kathmandu airport's general manager said.

But the conversations between the pilot and air traffic controllers indicated confusion over which direction the plane should land.

In the recording posted by air traffic monitoring website liveatc.net, conversation veers repeatedly about whether the pilot should land from the south or the north.

Just before landing, the pilot asks: "Are we cleared to land?"

Moments later, the controller comes back on, using a tone rarely heard in such conversations, perhaps even panic, and tells the pilot: "I say again, turn!"

Seconds later, the controller orders fire trucks onto the runway.

Zhao Ruinan, Xinhua and AP contributed to this story.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/14/2018 page12)