“18 bodies were recovered, including a foreigner,” a police spokesman told the AFP news agency. Only the pilot survived the crash when the plane took off from the airport in the capital Kathmandu – he was rescued from the burning wreckage, according to the police. The foreign victim, according to the authorities, is a Yemeni citizen.
Pilot critically injured
The Sarya Airlines plane crashed at around 11:15 a.m. (local time, 7:30 a.m. CEST) on Wednesday morning, the Nepalese military said. Shortly after takeoff, the plane “turned to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway,” the airport said. The surviving pilot is in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The owner of a nearby tyre shop told AFP that the plane caught fire after the crash. “We were about to run to the scene, but then there was an explosion and we ran away again,” said 48-year-old Ram Kumar KC.
Plane was supposed to fly to Pokhara
The plane was supposed to fly to Pokhara, an important tourism center in the Himalayan state. The route between Kathmandu and Pokhara is the busiest route in the country. According to the airline’s website, Sarya Airlines flies exclusively with Bombardier CRJ 200 aircraft.
The flight was carried out either for technical or maintenance purposes, Gyanendra Bhul of the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority told AFP. Army images from the scene of the accident showed that the fuselage of the plane had broken apart and burned down to the frame.
Inadequate security
The aviation industry in Nepal has experienced a huge boom in recent years. However, due to inadequate training and maintenance, safety is lacking. The European Union has banned all airlines from Nepal from operating in the EU due to safety concerns. This means that no planes from the Himalayan state are allowed to take off or land in Europe.
In addition, Nepal has some of the most difficult runways in the world, challenging even experienced pilots. In addition, the weather in the mountains is changeable, making flying conditions treacherous.
The last major air accident occurred in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines plane crashed on landing in Pokhara. All 72 people on board died. The last time more people died was in 1992, with 167 fatalities, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport. In the same year, a Thai Airways plane crashed near the same airport – 113 people died.
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