Eighteen people died after a domestic plane crashed while taking off at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu. The plane was carryine nineteen people.
A Saurya Airlines plane, 9N-AME (CRJ200), which can seat 50 passengers, did not gain any altitude on takeoff, slipped off the runway and fell down an embankment and caught fire. Videos from the spot show a large fire with plumes of smoke rising near the Tribhuvan International Airport. Fire fighters and the Nepal army are at the spot. The cause of the fire is not known yet.
The pilot of the plane, 37-year-old Manish Shakya, was rescued from the wreckage and taken to a nearby hospital in Sinamangal for treatment.
The plane was carrying technical staff of the airline, Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the TIA. The aircraft was being taken to Pokhara Regional Airport for maintenance.
The aircraft involved is a Bombardier CRJ-200ER with registration 9N-AME. The aircraft was built in 2003. After the crash, smoke was seen billowing from the plane. Police personnel and firefighters have been deployed to the site for rescue operations.
Eyewitnesses said the plane was taking off from the southern end of the runway when it suddenly flipped with the wing tip hitting the ground. The aircraft, which caught fire immediately, then plunged into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway.
The airline was acquired by India’s Kuber Group in 2019 for 630 million Nepali rupees. In 2021, there were reports that the airline would rebrand itself as Kuber Airlines, but it was put on hold. The Kathmandu airport halted all flights of Saurya Airlines on December 6, 2018, after the carrier failed to pay its debts. It was allowed to resume operations in 2020 after it paid a part of the $355,000 debt it owed to the airport, a report said.
Last year, a Yeti Airlines’ aircraft crashed in January, killing all 72 people on board, including five Indians, in Nepal’s Pokhara. Yeti Airlines’ 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River minutes before landing on January 15.
An investigation commission said in its report that the aircraft crashed due to human error.
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