According to officials, a tiny plane that was taking off from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, crashed and caught fire on Wednesday, killing at least 18 passengers.
According to Airport Security Chief Arjun Chand Thakuri, the aircraft was carrying two crew members and seventeen technicians to Pokhara city for maintenance checks when it caught fire during departure from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
“It (the plane) caught fire after skidding off the runway at Kathmandu airport and crashing into a field east of the runway,” Thakuri stated.
Eighteen of the nineteen passengers have died. The pilot is receiving medical attention at a hospital, nevertheless, and is alive.According to Reuters, television footage showed firefighters attempting to put out the fire and billowing black smoke into the sky.
The aircraft belonged to Saurya Airlines, a local company, the media stated.
According to Flight Radar 24, Saurya uses two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional planes, both roughly twenty years old, for domestic flights in Nepal.
The deadliest occurrence occurred in 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus crashed into a mountainside while entering Kathmandu, killing 167 people. Nepal has been criticized for having a bad record for air safety.
Most recently, a Yeti Airlines catastrophe in January 2023 claimed the lives of at least 72 people. It was later determined that the pilots’ error in turning off the power was the cause of the tragedy.
