Eighteen people died during a plane crash on Wednesday morning at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal.
A domestic Saurya Airlines plane, Bombardier CRJ 200, bound for the city of Pokhara experienced a runway excursion during takeoff, causing it to flip and crash, resulting in a devastating explosion.
Eyewitnesses told the outlet that the plane was taking off from the southern end of the runway when its wing tip hit the ground, leading to the accident.
The plane then plunged into a gorge between a hangar and the radar station, producing thick billows of smoke visible from the airport.
The crash resulted in casualties, with 18 bodies recovered from the site, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) confirmed.
The flight had 19 people on board, including crew members. The sole survivor, Captain MR Shakya, was rushed to the hospital for medical treatment, airport spokesperson Subash Jha said.
The plane was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to Pokhara city to repair another aircraft, officials said.
Videos from the crash site show firefighters trying to put out the blaze and thick black smoke rising into the sky, with other footage showing rescue workers rummaging through the charred remains of the plane, strewn in lush green fields.
Bodies were carried to ambulances on stretchers as local residents looked on, local media footage showed.
The pilot has injuries to the eyes but his life is not in any danger, the doctor added.
Tribhuvan International Airport, the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights, has been closed as emergency crews worked.
It is monsoon rainy season in Kathmandu but was not raining at the time of the crash.
Visibility was low across the capital, however, although it is not clear whether this contributed to the crash or why the plane skidded off the runway in the first place.
Saurya Airlines operates two Bombardier CRJ 200 aircrafts on domestic routes – both are around 20 years old, according to Flight Radar 24.
Nepal has been criticised for a poor air safety record, and nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in the Himalayan country since 2000.
The deadliest incident occurred in 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into a hillside while approaching Kathmandu, killing 167 people.
Most recently, on July 11, 2023, six people were killed in a helicopter crash in central Nepal.
The chopper, which departed from Solukhunvhu district, home to Mount Everest and other high mountain peaks, had five Mexican nationals and one Nepali pilot on board.
Earlier last year 72 people were killed in a Yeti airlines crash in January that was later attributed to the pilots mistakenly cutting off power. It was the worst air crash in the country since 1992.
On March 12, 2018, 51 of 71 people on a Bangladeshi airliner operated by US-Bangla Airlines died when it crashed in cloudy weather as it came in to land at the Nepalese capital’s hill-ringed airport.
Several British citizens died in plane crashes in Nepal, most recently on September 28, 2012, when a small propeller-driven Dornier aircraft struck a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff from Kathmandu, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers.
It comes after more two years prior, on August 24, 2010, 14 people – including four Americans, a Japanese and British national – were killed when their small plane crashed in bad weather in Nepal. It was operated by privately held Agni Air.
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