18 killed as private airline plane crashes during takeoff at Kathmandu, pilot survives

Kathmandu: A private Nepalese airline plane crashed during takeoff and caught fire at the Tribhuvan International Airport here on Wednesday, killing 18 people aboard, including a foreigner, while the pilot survived with major injuries.

The Nepalese domestic plane N9AME, belonging to Saurya Airlines, was bound for Pokhra for regular maintenance service when the accident occurred at 11.11 am.

The Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft "suffered a runway excursion and burst into massive flames immediately", the Search and Rescue Centre of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.

Videos posted online showed the plane being enveloped in fire and smoke. Fire engines and ambulances were rushed to the spot after the incident.

The deceased were identified as co-pilot S Katuwal and 17 employees of the Saurya Airlines, including a Nepali female and a Yemeni national. Pilot captain Manish Shakya, 37, is undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Model Hospital.

Of the deceased, 15 died on the spot while three died during treatment at a local hospital, authorities said.

Following the accident, services at the Kathmandu airport were halted briefly before being resumed, the airport authorities said.

Saruya Airlines operates flights to five tourist destinations within Nepal, with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets, according to the company’s website.

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record in recent years but the reasons also include partly sudden weather changes and partly airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains apart from human error.

According to Nepal’s civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air crashes in the country since the first disaster was recorded in August 1955.

In January last year, all 72 people on board, including five Indians, were killed when a Yeti Airlines aircraft crashed in the resort city of Pokhara. The crash was attributed to a human error.

Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing on January 15, 2023, which was the 104th crash in Nepali skies and third biggest in terms of casualties.

The only incidents in which more people were killed took place in July and September 1992. Those crashes involved aircraft of Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines and left 113 and 167 people dead, respectively.

On May 29, 2022, all 22 people on board, including four members of an Indian family, were killed as a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district.

In 2016, all 23 people aboard were killed when a plane of the same airline flying the same route crashed after takeoff.

In March 2018, a US-Bangla Air crash occurred at the Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 51 people on board.