At least 18 bodies were recovered from a small plane that caught fire after skidding off the runway during takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday, according to media reports and officials.
The pilot has been rescued and is being treated at a hospital.
The aircraft, operated by local carrier Saurya Airlines, was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to Pokhara city for maintenance checks, said airport security chief Arjun Chand Thakuri.
Television footage showed firefighters battling the blaze as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
“The plane skidded off the runway and crashed into a field east of the runway,” Thakuri said. Emergency responders extinguished the fire that erupted from the crash.
The CRJ200 plane, which can seat 50 passengers, did not gain any altitude on takeoff. It slipped off the runway, fell down an embankment, and caught fire. Videos from the scene show a large fire with plumes of smoke rising near Tribhuvan International Airport.
Nepal’s air industry has one of the worst safety records in the world, plagued by insufficient training and maintenance.
In 2023, a Yeti Airlines aircraft crashed in Pokhara, killing all 72 people on board, including five Indians. It was Nepal’s deadliest crash since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died as it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.
