Plane crashes on takeoff in Nepal with 19 aboard

A passenger plane carrying 19 people crashed during takeoff in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Wednesday morning, with fire crews working to douse the flaming wreckage.

The Saurya Airlines plane crashed at around 11:15 am (0530 GMT), Nepal’s military said in a statement.

“Rescue work is going on” with the army’s quick response team lending assistance, the statement added.

Further details were “still being confirmed”, Kathmandu airport general manager Jagannath Niroula told AFP.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper said 19 people including air crew were aboard the flight.

News portal Khabarhub reported that the airplane had caught fire after skidding on the runway and was “releasing a significant plume of smoke”.

The plane was en route to Pokhara, an important tourism hub in the Himalayan republic.

Saurya Airlines exclusively flies Bombardier CRJ 200 jets, according to its website.

Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.

But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance.

The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.

Nepal’s woeful record on aviation safety has been compounded by its treacherous geography.

The Himalayan country has some of the world’s trickiest runways to land on, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

Nepal’s last major commercial flight accident was in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines service crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all 72 aboard.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.

Earlier that year a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

Authorities have yet to release the identity of those aboard.

AFP