The plane crashed while taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. All 18 people on board are believed to have died.
Head of airport security Arjun Chand Thakur told Reuters news agency that he was accompanied by two flight attendants and 17 technicians to Pokhara for maintenance checks.
Pilot Manish Shankya was rescued from the crash and taken to a nearby hospital where he is being treated for a head injury. Rescue operations are underway under the leadership of the Nepal Army.
The plane reportedly caught fire but was quickly extinguished by emergency responders.
According to eyewitnesses to the crash, the plane overturned after the wingtip hit the ground during takeoff. They said the plane immediately caught fire and crashed into a ravine on the east side of the runway.
#WATCH | Plane crashes at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal’s Kathmandu. Details awaited pic.twitter.com/9CudlsmFKS
— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2024
Media reported that the plane belonged to local company Shourya Airlines. According to Flight Radar 24, Sourya operates domestic flights in Nepal with two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets, both 20 years old.
In January last year, 72 people, including five Indians, died when an Eti Airways flight crashed on Sunday before landing in Nepal’s tourist city of Pokhara.
