The plane skidded off the runway. Only the pilot survived.
18 people died in the crash that took place at Kathmandu airport. The pilot of the plane that crashed during takeoff was taken to hospital.
A Nepalese airline Saurya Airlines crashed during takeoff. On Wednesday, at around 11 a.m. local time, the regional carrier’s plane skidded off the runway in the country’s capital, Kathmandu. All passengers on board died. Only the pilot survived the crash, who was taken to hospital. This is the latest fatal air accident in Nepal in recent years. Due to its mountainous terrain and rapidly changing weather, the Asian country is considered one of the riskiest places for air travel.
Plane crash in Nepal
On Wednesday, July 24, at around 11 a.m., a Saurya Airlines plane crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. There were 18 passengers (17 Nepalese and one Yemeni) and the pilot on board the small plane. According to local police, all of them were employees of the carrier who were on their way to perform routine maintenance on the plane in Pokhara in the Himalayas. The plane crashed less than a minute after takeoff, tipping over the runway and then hitting the ground. “Initial assessments indicate the plane was flying in the wrong direction,” the BBC reports.
Only the pilot survived
Rescue services arrived at the scene of the accident immediately and managed to pull the pilot alive from the burning wreckage. The man was transported to hospital and his life is not in danger. The other people on the flight died at the scene. The airport was closed for several hours after the crash, but traffic has already resumed. “The plane was supposed to undergo a month of maintenance, starting on Thursday… It is not clear why it crashed,” said Mukesh Khanal, marketing director of Saurya Airlines. Unfortunately, this is not the first such serious air accident in Nepal. The country located in the central part of the Himalayas is infamous for its numerous plane crashes. The most common reasons for incidents are changing weather, difficult to access runways and a lack of adequate control and legal regulations. For safety reasons, the European Union closed its airspace to Nepalese airlines back in 2013.
