Kathmandu, July 24 (EFE).- Eighteen people died after a plane crashed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday, with the pilot left as the only survivor, officials said.
The Saurya Airlines plane, carrying 19 passengers, was taking off for Pokhra when it suffered a runway excursion at 11.11am, airport spokesperson Subash Jha told EFE.
Rescue teams have recovered 18 bodies from the crash site. Nepal Police Spokesperson DIG Dan Bahadur Karki told EFE that flight captain MR Shakya survived the crash and was in a “stable” condition.
Jha revealed that the plane, a Bombardier CRJ 200, was being flown to Pokhara for maintenance operations, and that 17 people in the passenger seats were the maintenance crew of the airline company.
According to eyewitnesses, the plane was taking off from the southern-end of the runway and suddenly flipped with its right wing tip hitting the ground.
The aircraft caught fire immediately and then plunged into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway. Thick billows of smoke were seen in the airport.
Footage aired by local broadcaster Kantipur TV showed the wreckage of the medium sized plane with rescue operations underway.
Air accidents are not uncommon in Nepal due to the poor condition of aircraft and infrastructure at airports, rapidly changing weather and adverse terrain.
Airlines from the Himalayan country have been subject to repeated international sanctions for lack of controls.
The European Union has banned Nepalese airlines from operating in its airspace since 2013.
The worst plane crash in Nepal in recent years occurred in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines flight with 72 people aboard crashed without leaving survivors. The authorities determined human error as the cause. EFE
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