Eighteen people were killed when a regional airliner belonging to Nepalese flag carrier Saurya Airlines crashed while taking off from the capital, Kathmandu, authorities said.
The plane crashed on Wednesday and burst into flames. It was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians and was heading for regular maintenance at Pokhara’s new airport, which opened in January and is equipped with aircraft maintenance hangars, they said.
“Shortly after takeoff… the aircraft veered to the right and crashed on the eastern side of the runway,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.
Eighteen of those on board were Nepalese citizens while one engineer was from Yemen, Saurya said.
“Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment in a hospital,” said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, spokesman for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.
Television footage showed firefighters trying to put out the blaze and thick black smoke rising into the sky. It also showed the plane flying slightly above the runway, then banking to the right before crashing.
Other footage showed rescue workers picking through the charred remains of the plane, strewn across lush fields, and bodies being carried to ambulances on stretchers as local residents looked on.
“The plane was scheduled to undergo a month-long maintenance from Thursday. (…) It is not clear why it crashed,” said Mukesh Khanal, head of marketing at Saurya Airlines.
Kathmandu airport was temporarily closed after the crash but reopened hours later, authorities said.
A Saurya Airlines official said the plane was a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200.
Nepal has been criticized for its poor air safety record, compounded by the fact that many of the Himalayan country’s airports are located in remote hills and near cloud-shrouded peaks. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
Located in the heart of the Kathmandu Valley, the country’s main airport is surrounded by mountains, which affects wind directions and intensity in the region and makes takeoffs and landings difficult for pilots.
Nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal since 2000. The deadliest incident occurred in 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into a hillside on its way to Kathmandu, killing 167 people.
More recently, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti Airlines crash in January 2023, which was later attributed to the pilots mistakenly cutting off the power supply.
