All bodies retrieved from Nepal crash site

Group Captain Varun Singh, who died after suffering serious injuries in a chopper crash last year, was on Tuesday posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra, the country’s third-highest peacetime gallantry medal, by President Ram Nath Kovind for a previous act of valour. His wife Geetanjali Singh and mother Uma Singh received the award. Singh was the only man to have survived the December 8, 2021 Mi17V5 chopper crash that killed 13 people, including chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, but he died of his injuries after a week. The government announced the Shaurya Chakra for Singh on August 15, 2021 for exceptional courage and remarkable presence of mind in handling a rare mid-air emergency involving the Tejas light combat aircraft on October 12, 2020, when Singh, then a wing commander, ”maintained exemplary composure and regained control of the aircraft”.

Nepali rescuers have retrieved all 22 bodies from a plane that crashed in the Himalayas, authorities said Tuesday. Air traffic control lost contact with the Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara in Nepal on Sunday morning and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination. Its wreckage was found a day later, strewn across a mountainside at an altitude of around 14,500 feet (4,400 metres). “All 22 bodies have been carried to Kathmandu by Nepal Army’s (Mi-17) helicopter,” Tribhuvan International Airport spokesman Teknath Sitoula told AFP. About 60 people were involved in the search mission, including the army, police, mountain guides and locals, most of whom trekked uphill for miles to get there. The plane’s black box was also retrieved, and will be sent to Kathmandu.