So tragic.

An Irish citizen is believed to have been on board the plane that crashed in Nepal on Sunday. The Government is currently standing by to provide consular assistance following the disaster. At least 68 people are now believed to be dead following the crash, with the plane carrying 72 on board when the tragedy occurred. The plane crashed into a gorge yesterday while landing at a new airport in central Nepal yesterday. The disaster occurred near the resort town of Pokhara and footage from the event shows the plane only moments before the fatal crash. A spokesman said the Department of Foreign Affairs said: ‘The Department is aware of reports of the involvement of an Irish citizen in an airplane crash in Nepal, and stands ready to provide consular assistance if requested.’ The gender of the Irish victim is not known." While the cause of the crash is not clear, the plane was originally heading to Kathmandu and a spokesperson for Yeti Airlines said that there were 15 foreign nationals, two infants and four crew members on board. A Nepal airport official said: ‘The plane had five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian national onboard." The first person to be named in the tragedy was 33- year-old Moscow travel blogger Elena Banduro who posted about her to on social media yesterday as the plane took off. The crash is now the deadliest in Nepal since March 2018 following a USBangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu and saw 51 of the 71 people on board killed. The pilot is reported to have become disoriented and landed in "sheer desperation". In May of last year, all 22 people died on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air. Poor aircraft maintenance and insufficient staff training are a problem in Nepal and the safety record in the country is poor when it comes to airline carriers, so much so they have been banned from entering European airspace since 2013.

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