Plane crash in Nepal kills 18 individuals, with the pilot the only survivor

New Delhi — At least 18 individuals on board a small airplane have been killed Wednesday when it crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. The pilot of the airplane was the lone survivor, nationwide aviation officers stated. He was being handled for critical accidents at an area hospital.

A hearth broke out on the plane not lengthy after it took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, and it shortly crashed to the bottom close to one of many runways. The incident occurred at round 11:15 native time (12:30 a.m. Eastern), based on a assertion by the nation’s civil aviation authority.

The assertion stated the airplane “crashed on the east aspect of the runway” and that the fireplace that had engulfed the plane “was introduced underneath management and the rescue work began instantly.”

Videos posted on-line confirmed the airplane flying into the bottom at a pointy angle, with its left wing pointed nearly straight up into the air, crashing to the bottom and being enveloped in flames. Dozens of rescuers, hearth engines and ambulances arrived on the crash web site, movies confirmed.

According to authorities, rescuers discovered 18 our bodies on the crash web site. All of the victims have been Nepali nationals aside from one Yemeni.

The airplane belonged to Nepal’s Saurya Airlines, which operates home flights between the nation’s 5 main airports. Of the 19 individuals on the flight, 16 have been technical workers of the airline, two have been crew members, and the opposite was the pilot who survived.

The airplane was destined for Pokhara, a preferred vacationer vacation spot within the Himalayan nation identified for its mountainous terrain and world-famous peaks, together with the Mount Everest. 

Nepal has a dismal historical past of aviation accidents, attributed largely to poor security requirements and unpredictable climate.

At least 68 individuals have been killed when a Yeti Airlines airplane crashed whereas touchdown at Pokhara in January final 12 months. It was the nation’s deadliest air catastrophe since 1992, when 167 individuals on a Pakistan International Airlines airplane have been killed in a crash close to Kathmandu’s Airport.

In 2022, at the very least 22 individuals died when a airplane crashed right into a mountainside. In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu crashed after take-off, killing all 23 individuals aboard.

According to Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety database, there have been 44 deadly airplane crashes in Nepal since 1946.