Kathmandu: She lost her pilot husband in a 2006 plane crash and now she has also met the same fate. This tragic coincidence happened to Manju Khatiwada, 44, the co-pilot of the ill-fated Yeti Airlines plane, who died on Sunday when the plane crashed in Pokhara, Nepal.
He husband Dipak Pokharel died in 2006 in a plane crash in Jumla district. Seventeen years after the death of her husband, Manju also lost her life in a plane crash on Sunday. According to the Kantipur national daily, after the death of her pilot husband, her father Govinda was planning to send her to India to study nursing but she refused and went to the US to do a pilot training course to fulfil the dream of her first husband.
She was supposed to be promoted to pilot after some more flights, according to the news report. In order to become a pilot, one needs at least 100 hours of flying experience. Manju had successfully landed in almost all the airports of Nepal.
She had one daughter from her late pilot husband. Sixteen years ago, a 9N AEQ aircraft of Yeti Airlines was en route from Nepalgunj to Jumla via Surkhet, when it crashed killing six passengers and four crew members. Manju’s husband was among those killed.
In Sunday’s crash the Yeti Airlines ATR-72 aircraft was piloted by Senior Captain Kamal KC and Manju was the co-pilot. According to the airline, 68 passengers including 4 crew were on board the aircraft. There were also six children. The airline said in a statement that the plane contained 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentinean and one each from Ireland, Australia and France.
From her first husband Dipak, Manju had one daughter who is studying in Canada. Now she was married to another man and had one son with him.
