At least 18 people were killed after a small plane caught fire after skidding off the runway while taking off from Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Wednesday, media and officials said. The plane was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to Pokhara city for maintenance checks, Airport Security Chief Arjun Chand Thakuri said.
Television visuals showed fire fighters trying to put out the fire and thick black some rising into the sky. "It (the plane) caught fire after skidding off the runway at Kathmandu airport and crashing into a field east of the runway," Thakuri said. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the 9N-AME/CRJ 200 call sign aircraft of Saurya Air crashed at 11:11 am (local time) on Wednesday while taking off from Tribhuvan International Airport to Pokhara. The plane belonged to local Saurya Airlines, which operates domestic flights in Nepal with two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets, both around 20 years old, according to Flight Radar 24.
Jashoda Regmi, the information officer of the Pokhara International Airport, said that Saurya Airlines had applied to keep the aircraft in the hangar of Pokhara International Airport for a month. "We do regular servicing of bikes and cars, similarly, Solar Air's aircraft also applied to be kept in the hangar of Pokhara Airport for a month from today for routine checkups," she told India TV.
VIDEO: Moment before the Nepal plane crash
The pilot of the plane survived the crash and has been taken to the Kathmandu Medical College Hospital for treatment, said a doctor at the hospital. The pilot, identified as Captain Manish Shakya, has injuries to the eyes but he was not in any danger.
According to eyewitnesses, the plane was taking off from the Southern end of the runway when it suddenly flipped with the wing tip hitting the ground. The aircraft caught fire immediately and plunged into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway. Tribhuvan International Airport, the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights, has been closed as emergency crew worked.
Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record, with the deadliest incident occurring in 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into a hillside while approaching Kathmandu, killing 167 people. In January 2023, a Yeti Airlines flight crashed near the central city of Pokhara, killing all 72 passengers on board, including five Indians. Prior to that, a Tara flight with 22 people on board, including four Indians from Thane, crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district on May 29, 2022, killing all people on board.
Bad weather seems to be the main factor behind plane crashes in Nepal. The mountainous country sees frequent fluctuations in the weather and it is difficult to operate a flight without a proper weather forecasting mechanism. In addition, Nepal has some of the world's most strenuous and remote runways, which pose a challenge for even experienced pilots.
(with inputs from Anamika Gaur)
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