CAPTAIN’S DEATH SADDENS BHOJPUR LOCALS

BHOJPUR, Feb 26

The death of Roshan Manandhar, the captain of the ill-fated Tara Air aircraft, was mourned by the whole Bhojpur district. Manandhar is fondly remembered by the locals for landing Tara Air’s aircraft for the first time in Bhojpur Airport on July 30, 2012.

When the news of Tara aircraft crash at Solighopte of Myagdi district made headlines, Bhojpuri locals were left in disbelief. “We could not believe that the aircraft captained by Roshan Manadhar had crashed. He had a very outgoing personality and the incident is really unfortunate,” said Sita Rai, who paid a visit to the Bhojpur Station of Tara Air after hearing the news.

Similarly, Sharadha Shrestha, who operates a tea shop near Bhojpur Airport, fondly recalled Manandhar as a person who used to drink tea from her shop every time he landed in the district. “I’m very devastated to realize that he will be not coming here for tea anymore. When he had to operate many flights in a day and had a busy schedule, I used to take tea and food to him as soon as his plane landed,” she said with tears swelling up in her eyes.

Manandhar had operated many flights back and forth from Bhojpur to Kathmandu. Tara Air was the first private firm to operate flights in the district. On his debut flight to Bhojpur, Captain Manandhar was accompanied by Prabhakar Ghimire as his co-pilot.

When Tara Air was preparing to fly to Kathmandu on Thursday, sadness was visible on the passengers’ faces.