Kathmandu.-A Saurya Airlines passenger plane crashed on Wednesday while taking off at Kathmandu airport, killing 18 people on board, police said.
The pilot, the only survivor of the incident, was taken to Kathmandu Medical College Hospital for treatment. A doctor at the hospital, who declined to be identified, said the man suffered eye injuries but was not in any danger.
The flight was carrying two crew members and 17 company employees. “Eighteen bodies have been recovered, including one of a foreigner,” said Nepalese police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki.
The plane was already in the air when it quickly tilted to one side and fell back onto the runway, according to images from airport security cameras broadcast by Nepalese media.
Videos posted by local television Kantipur TV show the aircraft completely destroyed, with part of its fuselage burned, near the airport, and surrounded by dozens of rescue workers.
The cause of the accident is not yet known. Authorities have not provided details on the identity of the victims.
The plane was heading toward the city of Pokhara, a popular gateway to the Himalayas and a popular air route for foreign tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the world’s highest mountain range.
Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal’s main airport for international and domestic flights, was closed as emergency crews worked on the scene.
Saurya Airlines operates Bombardier CRJ 200 aircraft on domestic routes.
Nepal, where air accidents frequently occur due to the poor condition of aircraft and airport infrastructure, rapidly changing weather and adverse topography, has been the subject of repeated international sanctions for the lack of controls.
The European Union (EU) has banned Nepalese airlines from entering its territory since 2013.
In 2019, a Bangladeshi plane crashed at Tribhuvan Airport, killing 51 people, while 20 on board survived. An investigation confirmed that the plane was misaligned with the runway and the pilot was disoriented and attempted to land in “desperation” when the plane crashed.
The worst air accident in recent years in Nepal occurred in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines flight crashed with 72 passengers and no survivors, an accident attributed by authorities to human error.
This was the deadliest accident in Nepal since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu airport, killing all 167 people on board. That same year, a Thai Airways plane crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines plane landing on a slippery runway in dense fog overshot the runway at the same airport. The plane was carrying 238 people, but there were no serious injuries.Infobae.
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2024-07-26 18:03:02
