New Delhi: A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on Saturday, causing massive damage in the capital Kathmandu with strong tremors felt across several states of India too. The authorities have closed the Kathmandu airport due to the quake. All flight operations in and out of Kathmandu have been suspended until further notice.
All Indian carriers- national airline Air India and private carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet, have put on hold their flight services till they get a go-ahead from the Nepalese aviation authorities.
"We operated three flights to Kathmandu. While the morning flight from Delhi operated as per the schedule, the two other services, one from Delhi and another from Kolkata are on hold as of now. We will operate them as soon as we get a nod from the aviation authorities in Kathmandu," an Air India spokesperson said.
Budget carrier SpiceJet and IndiGo have also decided not to operate till they get a clearance from the Nepal government.
IndiGo said that it had called back its Delhi-Kathmandu flight.
"Kathmandu Airport is shut. We are in crisis response mode," IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said.
"In this sort of situation, one can't predict when the operations would be resumed. Our top priority right now is safety of our staff and passengers," he said.
Indigo has also waived cancellation charges for its flights to Nepal for one week, Ghosh added.
Jet Airways spokesperson said its flight which was on its way to Kathmandu, that is diverted to Lucknow, would come back to Mumbai, while its Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi flight has been cancelled.
A large numbers of offices and homes have collapsed in Kathmandu while roads had developed huge cracks dure to the quake.
The historic Dharara Tower built in the 19th century has also collapsed. The tower was built in 1832 and was a historic landmark that had been open to visitors for the last 10 years and had a viewing balcony on its eighth floor.
####Nepal earthquake: Google person finder
Comments
0 comment