Kathmandu (PTI): The black boxes of the Yeti Airlines aircraft have been recovered from the accident site on Monday, officials said, a day after the plane with 72 people, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in the resort city of Pokhara, killing at least 68 people onboard.

The accident took place on Sunday, the Himalayan nation's deadliest aviation accident in over 30 years.

The black box of the crashed aircraft has been found at the accident site and it has already been handed over to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said a spokesperson at Yeti Airlines Sudarshan Bartaula.

Both black boxes from the crashed Yeti Airlines flight in Nepal have been discovered, Kathmandu airport officials said.

The Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was carrying 72 people four crew members and 68 passengers, including five Indians when it crashed near the airport of the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday in clear weather conditions.

Both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered today as search and rescue teams rappelled down a 300-meter gorge to continue their efforts, which were suspended overnight.

All the preparations for conducting a postmortem on the dead bodies have been completed and the process will start soon, he said.

A medical team has been airlifted from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. As soon as they reach Pokhara, the postmortem will start at Western Regional Hospital in Pokhara, he added.

So far, 68 dead bodies have been recovered from the accident site and a search is going on for the remaining four bodies. As the accident site lies in a deep gorge of Seti river, it was very difficult for search operations, Nepal Army sources said.

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Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described the Waqf (Amendment) Bill as “anti-secular”, claiming that it would snatch the rights of Muslims.

Banerjee, speaking in the assembly, also said the Centre did not consult with states over the matter.

“The bill is anti-federal and anti-secular; it is a deliberate attempt to malign a particular section. It will snatch the rights of Muslims... The Centre did not consult with us on the Waqf Bill,” she said.

The chief minister added that “if any religion was attacked”, she would wholeheartedly condemn it.

Opposition parties have stridently criticised the amendments proposed by the bill in the existing Waqf Act, alleging that they violate the religious rights of Muslims.

The ruling BJP has asserted that the amendments will bring transparency in the functioning of the Waqf boards and make them accountable.

A parliamentary committee has been constituted to scrutinise the contentious bill.