Difficult terrain, loose regulations: What makes Nepal so risky to fly

In the past decade, there have been two fatal crashes on average every year

On Sunday, January 15, 72 people boarded a Yeti Air flight from Nepal's capital Kathmandu to the country's second populous city, Pokhara. But the flight crashed just 18 minutes into the journey, leaving 68 out of 72 dead.

This is the third-worst crash in the country's history. Before this, in March 2018, a US-Bangla flight from Dhaka crashed in Kathmandu, killing 51 on board. The only two crashes that killed more people were in July and September 1992 which left 113 and 164 people dead, respectively.

Nepal has a long history of air crashes. According to data from