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Rescuers have resumed searching for four people still missing after Nepal’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, officials have said.

The ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Yeti airlines, was carrying 72 people when it crashed in the tourist city of Pokhara minutes before landing in clear weather on Sunday.

Rescuers have so far recovered 68 bodies.

Nepal has declared Monday a day of mourning and has set up a panel to investigate the disaster and suggest measures to avoid such incidents in future.

It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.

The plane, on a scheduled flight from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu to Pokhara, the gateway to the scenic Annapurna mountain range, was carrying 57 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one person each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France.

Pokhara police official Ajay KC said the search-and-rescue operation, which stopped because of nightfall on Sunday, has now resumed.

He said: “We will take out the five bodies from the gorge and search for the remaining four that are still missing.”

The other 63 bodies had been sent to a hospital, he said.

Rescuers have also been searching for the black boxes – a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – as they looked for survivors, a spokesperson for Nepal’s civil aviation authority said.

Authorities have said bodies will be handed over to families after identification and examination.

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Plane flips moments before Nepal crash

Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers, soldiers, and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft to find survivors.

The aircraft’s fuselage was split into multiple parts which were scattered down the gorge.

Tek Bahadur KC, a senior administrative officer in the Kaski district, said he expected rescue workers to find more bodies at the bottom of the gorge.

Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site to help with the search, said rescue efforts were hampered because of thick smoke and a raging fire that engulfed the aircraft.

“The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage,” he said.

Gaurav Gurung, a witness, said he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began to attempt a landing.

He added he saw the plane fall nose-first towards its left and then crash into the gorge.

“The plane caught fire after the crash. There was smoke everywhere,” Mr Gurung said.

Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage of the crashed passenger plane
Image:
Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage of the crashed passenger plane

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At the crash site near the Seti River, nearly a mile from Pokhara International Airport, rescuers sprayed fire hoses and heaved ropes down to another smouldering part of the wreck below.

The aviation authority said the plane last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10.50am local time.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, has set up a panel to investigate the accident.

“The incident was tragic. The full force of the Nepali army, police has been deployed for rescue,” he said.

The type of plane involved has been used by several airlines around the world for short regional flights.

Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the model has been involved in several fatal accidents over the years.

Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage. Pic: AP
Image:
Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage. Pic: AP

In 2018, an ATR 72 operated by Iran’s Aseman Airlines crashed in a foggy, mountainous region, killing all 65 on board.

ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday’s crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet.

According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data”.

It was previously flown by India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Thailand’s Nok Air before Yeti took it over in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net.

Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, company spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said.

Sunday’s crash was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.

Nearly 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal – home to eight of the world’s 14
highest mountains, including Everest – where sudden weather changes can make for hazardous conditions.

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Pope Francis’s final moments reveal how quickly he deteriorated before death

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Pope Francis's final moments reveal how quickly he deteriorated before death

Pope Francis died little more than half an hour after being taken ill, Vatican sources have told Sky News.

Pope Francis woke at 6am on Monday, and was fine for at least an hour, sources said, as they revealed details of the pontiff’s final moments.

Around 7am, the Vatican’s medical unit received an emergency call from his Casa Santa Marta apartment.

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Where will Pope Francis be buried?

Pope latest – Prince William to attend funeral

An urgent transfer to the Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia earlier this year, was among the options considered.

A request for an urgent escort from the Vatican was received by Rome police after 7am, sources there said, but, given how quickly his condition worsened, it was cancelled by Vatican officials before 7.35am.

Francis died at the age of 88, a day after making his final public appearance at St Peter’s Square, where he greeted crowds on Easter Sunday, one of the most important days of the Christian calendar.

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First images of pope’s casket

The Vatican said he died from a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure.

He is currently lying in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household.

Francis will be laid to rest Saturday, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects.

The funeral will take place outside, in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, and will start with a procession led by a priest carrying a cross, followed by the coffin and ordained clergy.

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‘Many were in tears, I was in tears’

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will lead the service. Nine days of mourning begin afterwards.

Unlike his predecessors, Francis will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major), as per his final burial wishes, announced on Monday.

The basilica is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, and is where Francis traditionally went to pray before and after foreign trips.

He will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century.

In another change from tradition, he will be buried in a simple wooden casket, forgoing the centuries-old practice of burying the late pope in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead, and oak.

Prince William will attend the funeral on behalf of King Charles, Kensington Palace has said.

Cardinals will gather in a conclave to choose his successor afterwards.

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Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, had suffered from a chronic lung disease and had part of a lung removed as a young man.

Health issues plagued him throughout his later life, and he was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He stayed at the hospital for 38 days before being released.

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Kristi Noem: Top Trump official’s handbag – containing $3,000 in cash and security pass – stolen in burger restaurant

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Kristi Noem: Top Trump official's handbag - containing ,000 in cash and security pass - stolen in burger restaurant

A bag belonging to the US Homeland Security Secretary was stolen on Sunday night – containing thousands of dollars in cash and an ID card that gives access to secure agency buildings.

Kristi Noem was eating at a Washington DC burger restaurant with family when a man in a face covering sat near her table and stole her purse, according to two people familiar with the theft.

Officials confirmed the theft to Sky News’ US partner NBC News on Monday.

The cabinet secretary was carrying $3,000 (£2,243) in cash because “her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren”, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NBC.

“She was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities and Easter gifts.”

US Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem visited CECOT in March. Pic: Reuters
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The purse contained her ID card. Reuters file pic

Just before 8pm, a man wearing an N-95 mask walked into the restaurant and up a few stairs to where Ms Noem was eating dinner.

He sat near her table and moved his chair close to hers before sliding her purse toward him with his foot, according to surveillance footage viewed by law enforcement, the sources said.

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Within minutes, the man had Ms Noem’s purse under his jacket and walked out of the restaurant.

At least two on-duty members of the US Secret Service were in the restaurant – between Ms Noem and the front doors – according to a source who witnessed the meal.

They said the restaurant wasn’t very busy at the time.

The purse also contained credit cards, blank cheques, her passport, driver’s licence and a set of keys.

It’s unclear whether Ms Noem was specifically targeted – and investigators are looking into whether the man knew who the purse belonged to.

When asked about the incident, Ms Noem said: “I don’t think I can comment on it yet. It’s not resolved yet.”

She said the Secret Service was aware but said she hadn’t spoken to agency personnel about what happened.

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Ms Noem is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s policies of deporting undocumented immigrants and fortifying the US-Mexico border to slow illegal migration.

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Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia’s ‘brutal war’ – as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire

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Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia's 'brutal war' - as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire

Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about ending Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine in their latest phone call on Easter Monday, as Vladimir Putin said he was open to bilateral talks.

The prime minister and Ukrainian president spoke on Monday afternoon, when Sir Keir “reiterated his iron-clad support for Ukraine“.

A Downing Street spokesperson added that the prime minister “said that the UK supports Ukraine’s calls for Russia to commit to a full ceasefire and that now is the time for Putin to show he is serious about ending his brutal war”.

“They discussed the latest developments on the Coalition of the Willing, and looked forward to further progress towards a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson added.

Mr Zelenskyy later said on social media that he had a “good and detailed conversation” with the prime minister, and added Ukrainian officials will be in London for talks on ending the war with Russia on Wednesday.

“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he added.

The Ukrainian president added that the 30-hour Easter truce, which both Kyiv and Moscow accuse the other of violating, showed that Russia “are prolonging the war”.

It comes as Mr Putin proposed bilateral talks with Ukraine on a longer ceasefire, which would mark the first time Russia held such talks since a failed peace deal soon after the invasion in 2022.

Speaking to a state TV reporter, the Russian president said: “We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative (the Easter truce), especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days.”

When asked about Mr Zelenskyy’s calls to extend the 30-hour ceasefire into a 30-day pause on civilian targets, he added: “This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”

The Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening that the Russian army had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” during the day, and accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of a ceasefire”.

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From Saturday: Why Putin offered an Easter truce?

It also comes after Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” after he and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.

The US president said on his Truth Social platform that both countries would “start to do big business” with the US after ending the war.

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Last month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, but Mr Putin refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire, saying crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out.

He then said he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, both sides have accused each other of breaking the moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea.

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