The promise that Oshin Ale Magar, a flight attendant who studied in India and died in a plane crash in Nepal, would return from Pokhara after work so that she could celebrate the Maghe Sankranti holiday with her family was what drove her to leave her home on Sunday. Oshin, 24, was one of 69 individuals who died on Sunday after Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 plane crashed on the bank of the Seti River in the resort city of Pokhara in central Nepal. The plane had 72 people on board, including five Indians.


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When they learned of the plane tragedy, her family was preparing for the celebration at home. Her father, Mohan Ale Magar, a retired Indian Army soldier, recalls telling her not to report to work on a special day early in the morning. On that day, she insisted on celebrating the festival after finishing two flights, Mohan told Republica newspaper over the phone.


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Oshin had been working with Yeti Airlines for two years. Originally from Madi in Chitwan, she was living in Kathmandu after starting her job and had also invited her parents to stay with her in the capital for the last six months, the report said.


Oshin has two sisters and one brother. She is the eldest daughter among four siblings. Her brother is just four years old. It said that she took her brother and sisters to Kathmandu for their education.


She studied at Oxford College in Gaindakot and in India and graduated as an air hostess from Sahara Air Hostess Academy in Kathmandu. Oshin got married two years ago in Pokhara and her husband is currently in the UK. The report said that her father, Mohan and mother, Sabnam Ale Magar, reached Pokhara to identify their daughter's dead body.


Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).


A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft. Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes.


Sunday's crash is Nepal's deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it crashed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.


With PTI Inputs