At the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, a Saurya Airlines airplane crashed after takeoff, resulting in yet another fatal plane tragedy in Nepal. The airport was immediately closed as a result of the event.
According to Premnath Thakur, an airport spokeswoman, the incident, which involved 19 people on a flight headed for Pokhara, happened at around 11 AM, as reported by the Kathmandu Post. Police and firefighters, among other emergency services, quickly got to work on the scene starting rescue operations.
It’s still unknown exactly what caused the crash. The bodies of eighteen passengers and crew members had been found by rescue teams. Captain Manish Shakya, the 37-year-old pilot of the aircraft, was saved and is presently undergoing medical care at a Sinamangal hospital.
The aircraft, a Mitsubishi CRJ-200ER, reportedly swerved off the runway after takeoff and caught fire, according to South Asia Time. Several members of the technical staff were also on board, according to The Himalayan Times.
The aircraft was trying to climb from the southern end of the runway, according to eyewitnesses cited by the Kathmandu Post, when it suddenly tipped, scraping the ground with its wingtip. The plane crashed into a neighboring canyon on the eastern side of the runway as a result of this encounter, which started a fire.
Passenger #aircraftcrash at Nepal airport. All aboard killed.
— BuzzWee (@The_buzzwee) July 24, 2024
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