A national tragedy

A picture remains in one of the albums of Facebook today; on the left hand corner is a face familiar to the students of Phuntsholing Higher Secondary School, and one truth binds everyone together: Thinley Rinchen is gone, forever.
While his classmates wait for the winter vacation to be over, to be together once again and update each other on how they spent their winter vacation, Thinley Rinchen’s body lies in one of the cold rooms in Bir Hospital in Kathmandu.
He was one of the 18 Bhutanese pilgrims who died in the Tara Air plane crash on Wednesday.
As his class mates yesterday to offer butter lamps in his memory, relatives, family members, friends and other pilgrims present there waited at the Tribhuvan International Airport, in Kathmandu yesterday.
Shocked and still in disbelief, some broke down and became hysterical as the Nepal’s aviation authorities confirmed that the Twin Otter flying the pilgrims from Lamidanda to Kathmandu had crashed.
Bodies of each passenger on board were bought out on a stretcher by the Nepal Army rescue team, each covered with a white cloth.
And as the words “killed everyone on board” struck them, some of the relatives started whispering prayers, hoping that this was not true.
Back home, in an emergency press conference called by the prime minister, Lyonchen Jigme Y. Thinley yesterday, he said the government has tried to get in touch with the family members of the victims.
“They are all so inconsolable,” he said.
The head of the nine member Bhutanese delegation sent to Kathmandu yesterday, the Cabinet secretary, Dasho Tashi Phuntsho told Bhutan TODAY that the family members and relatives present in Kathmandu are all shattered and devastated.
One of the victims was a Class XI Science student from Mothithang Higher Secondary School; Lhazin Wangmo was a recipient of Class IX Topper Certificate from His Majesty in 2008.
She was traveling with her adopted mother Kelzang.
Kelzang is survived by her son Ngawang Tenzin, who runs a tailoring shop.
Retired Lt. Col Tshewang Rinchen who was one of the victims was traveling with his wife Dema, his son Thinley Rinchen, his sister in law Kezang Wangmo, his nephew monk Karma and Samdrup, who is an account at the Center for Bhutan Studies and his sister Phub Pem.
None of them survived.
The other victims were Phub Gyelmo from Wangdue who is survived by her son Tsagay who is a monk at Dochhoety Goenpa in Paro, Tshering Wangmo, her sister Dorji Bidha and her daughter, Pema Wangmo from Talo, Punakha, monk Sangay from Gaselo, Wangdue who is the brother of the Drapai Lopen, the owner of Gyelyong enterprise, Kunzang Dorji, Sangay Bidha from Hebisa, Punakha and Tshering Yangki who is yet to be identified.
Another Bhutanese pilgrim who was supposed to travel on the same flight made last minute cancellations and was not on board. Some other passenger had been on board in his place by the similar name; however the 18th victim has not been indentified yet.
All 18 bodies were brought into the capital city of Nepal yesterday afternoon and were directly taken for postmortem to Bir hospital.
Family members, other pilgrims and the Bhutanese delegation sent to Kathmandu waited long hours at the hospital.
While the delegation tried to console the family members of the victims, the silence of the room in which they were asked to wait was broken by soft cried from one corner and a few hysterical cries from the other.
“They had gone Draphu Maratika to pray for their long lives,” said a relative of one of the victims. “But then life ended there itself for them.”
Hours after waiting at the hospital, the delegation decided to take the family members to Annapurna Hotel as most of them has remained hungry throughout the day.
Dasho Tashi Phuntsho told Bhutan TODAY that most of them refused to step into the restaurant but eventually after much consoling, they finally settled in.
They took small bites of snacks served but their mind remained somewhere else.
Even representatives from the Nepal government and officials from Tara Air were present there.
Meanwhile, 14 of the victims were staying at the Potala Guest House, which is a popular among most Bhutanese visiting Kathmandu.
The front desk official told Bhutan TODAY that when the crash was first confirmed, some of the relatives had become unconscious.
“Some become hysterical and went out of hand,” he said. “There were difficult to handle.”
The remaining four were staying in Boudha area.
While the whole nation grieves over the ill-fated aircraft that claimed 18 Bhutanese lives, they await for their bodies to arrive in the country tomorrow.