Plane crash at Nepal's Kathmandu airport kills 18; captain survives

KATHMANDU - A small passenger plane belonging to Nepal's Saurya Airlines crashed and caught fire while taking off from the capital Kathmandu on Wednesday, killing 18 people on board and leaving one survivor, the captain, officials said.

"Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital," said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

The 50-seater plane, carrying two crew members and 17 technicians, was heading for regular maintenance to Nepal's new Pokhara airport, which is equipped with aircraft maintenance hangars, the officials said.

Eighteen of those on board the CRJ-200 aircraft were Nepali citizens, with one engineer from Yemen, Saurya said.

"Shortly after takeoff ... the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.

The crash again focused attention on the poor air safety record of the impoverished, landlocked Himalayan nation that is wedged between India and China and is heavily dependent upon air connectivity due to its limited road network.

Nearly 360 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in the country since 2000.

Nepal's prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, visited the crash site and asked people to "be patient" in a social media post, without elaborating.

An emergency cabinet meeting was called to form a panel to investigate the incident, a government spokesman said.

THICK, BLACK SMOKE

Television footage showed fire fighters trying to put out the blaze as thick black smoke rose into the sky. Images also showed the plane flying a little above the runway and then tilting to its right before it crashed.

Other visuals showed rescue workers examining the charred remains of the plane, strewn in lush green fields, and bodies being carried to ambulances on stretchers.

Kathmandu airport was closed temporarily following the crash but reopened within hours, officials said.

According to Flightradar24 flight tracking, Saurya currently operates two CRJ-200 regional jets, a programme that was owned by Canada's Bombardier but which was bought by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020.

Bombardier referred questions about the incident to Canada-based MHI RJ Aviation Group.

"We are committed to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation to get an understanding of the cause of this accident," MHI said in a statement to Reuters.

POOR SAFETY RECORD

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record, where many airlines fly to small airports in remote hills and near peaks shrouded in clouds. The country is home to eight of the world's 14 tallest mountain peaks.

The country's main airport is ringed by mountains, affecting wind direction and intensity and making takeoff and landing a challenge for pilots.

The deadliest incident occurred in 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into a hillside while approaching Kathmandu, killing 167 people.

More recently, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti airlines crash in January 2023 that was later attributed to the pilots mistakenly cutting off power.

-(Reuters)