<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516a09c7e80680e02c226jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="359"/><figcaption>The last photograph: Ashna Shakya (third from left) with her friends before boarding the plane on 12 March in Dhaka. Only Samira Byanjankar (far left) survived the crash along with Princy Dhami (not in the picture). Saruna Shrestha (second from left), Algina Baral (second from right) and her cousin Charu Baral (right) also died. Photo: Bangladesh Mirror</figcaption></figure>It is the final day of MBBS examinations at Ragib-Rabeya Medical College Hospital (RRM-CH) in the Bangladesh town of Sylhet for Nepali medical students.The students were completing five long years of their medical school, they were stressed yet excited to be graduating. They were even more thrilled to be going back to Nepal to their families.Dipa and Ashna were worried about the exams. Ashna, being the calmer one and the stronger willed among the two, told her not to fret and just focus on her studies. All along, Dipa had depended on Ashna’s support.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/20-by-02/">20 by 02</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tragedy-at-tia/">Tragedy at TIA</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/we-had-to-improvise/">We had to improvise</a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Air-jam,4196">Air jam</a>, Om astha RaiAshna tells Dipa about her early morning phone conversation with her mother in Nepal who had wished her good luck for the final exam, and how much she was looking forward to seeing her home soon. Ashna told Dipa she felt confident after the call, and was sure her exam would go well.Dipa flew back to Kathmandu on the same day after her exam, leaving Ashna with her other friends who were flying on the next day.On 12 March in Kathmandu, Dipa got a call from her friends still in Bangladesh saying that a flight from Dhaka had crashed. Dipa thinks it is a joke, until she hears it was the US-Bangla Airlines flight her friends boarded. She turns on the tv, and the news is all over. She finds out Ashna is among 11 of her friends who died.Dipa hurries to hospitals and helps families to identify their daughters, her friends. Despite the vast sadness welling up, she suppresses her emotions as she tries to comfort the parents and relatives.On Tuesday, Dipa builds up her strength to go and see Ashna’s parents in Patan with four other friends who were at school together. Ashna’s mother Rupa Shakya is sitting on the floor, and her face lights up briefly when she sees Dipa and her daughter’s friends. She extends her arms and gets hugs. The tears flow, as she mumbles her daughter’s name. Seeing this, Dipa’s pent-up emotions erupt in a flood of tears. Face pressed against her knees, Dipa’s hunched shoulders are convulsed with grief.“I still have 14 months of internship left in Bangladesh,” she sobs, “how am I going to complete it? I do not want to go back to that place now, what is the point? I don’t have anyone to lean on …I should have forced Ashna to fly back with me.”

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Ashna isn't coming home

Family, friends and relatives of those who perished on 12 March, 2018 US-Bangla plane crash in Kathmandu gather for candlelight vigil at Maitighar.Of the 67 passengers and four crew members on board, 49 have been declared dead. Among the deceased, 28 were Bangladesh nationals, 22 Nepali, many of whom were MBBS students returning home after completing their studies, and one Chinese.Photos: Gopen Rai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365165d9c7e80680e02c20ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516609c7e80680e02c20fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516639c7e80680e02c210jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516669c7e80680e02c211jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516699c7e80680e02c212jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365166c9c7e80680e02c213jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365166e9c7e80680e02c214jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516719c7e80680e02c215jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516749c7e80680e02c216jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516779c7e80680e02c217jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">

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Young lives cut short

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516539c7e80680e02c20ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Army and police personnel gather at the US-Bangla plane crash site at the Kathmandu airport on Monday. Pic: Gopen Rai </figcaption></figure>Nepal Army Lt Col Puran Ghale was in the first rescue team to reach the US-Bangla crash site on Monday, and spoke to BBC Nepali Service.  BBC Nepali: What did you see when you reached the crash site?Puran Ghale: The plane was burning on the grass, and we sensed a danger of the fire spreading and we heard explosions. So how did you respond? We have gone through frequent training drills precisely to respond to such disasters. Even last year, we had conducted a large-scale simulated crash. Learning from our mock crashes, we tried to douse the fire and rescue passengers and crew members. We split into different units, and tried to cut through the cabin to reach survivors. My unit had collapsed structure rescue equipment, but we also needed to improvise. The fire control team of the TIA also arrived there with foam and other equipment. The ambulances took a little more time.What challenges did your unit faced in rescue?The aircraft was engulfed in fire, fuel was leaking from the tanks. We had to be careful not to ignite the fuel and trigger an explosion. We had to manually break into the aircraft hull and pull out passengers. After police arrived, we got more manpower to rescue passengers by using traditional equipment like axes and ropes. What are the lessons from this crash?The fire could spread easily, causing more damage. So we need to keep the airport area clean, removing all the grass. If aircraft engineers were there, they could have showed us right way to get into the wreckage. In this case, they came only after we requested them. Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/confusion-in-the-cockpit/">Confusion in the cockpit</a>, Kanak Mani Dixit <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/us-bangla-airline-crashes-at-tia/">US-Bangla crash</a>

"We had to improvise"

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