Officials say there is no hope for survivors in Nepal’s worst crash in 30 years.

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters), Jan 18 – Nepali officials said Wednesday that there is no possibility of finding survivors in the country’s worst plane crash in 30 decades. However, workers will continue their search for the remains.

Rescue teams used drones to rappel down deep canyons Tuesday to search for the remains of the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 turboprop. It was carrying 72 passengers when it crashed close by Pokhara, a tourist destination.

“There is no chance of finding any survivor. We have collected 71 body so far. “The search for the last one is continuing,” Tek Bahadur K.C. a Pokhara district official, stated Wednesday.

Ajay K.C, a rescue worker from the police station, stated that it was difficult to identify the bodies and provide an accounting for the 72 victims due to the state of the remains.

“Until the hospital tests show all 72 bodies, we’ll continue to search for the last person,” Ajay K.C said.

Search teams recovered 68 bodies the day before the crash. Two additional bodies were also found Monday, just before the search was stopped. Officials confirmed that one additional body had been found as of Tuesday afternoon.

Gurudutt Ghimire, another official involved in search operations, stated that teams had diverted water from a nearby river to find bodies.

“There is nothing left.” Ghimire stated that the search would continue.

Searchers located the cockpit voice recorder (and flight data recorder) from Monday’s flight. This is a significant discovery that will help investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

Since Nepal does not have the ability to read the so-called black box, the devices will go wherever the manufacturer recommends.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma, Kathmandu; writing by Shilpa Jakhandikar. Gerry Doyle edited