Pilot only survivor of Nepal plane crash

A plane crashed at a Nepal airport on Wednesday, killing 18 out of the 19 people on board, according to Nepal's civil aviation authority.

Airport security chief Arjun Chand Thakuri said the aircraft was on its way to Pokhara for maintenance checks with two crew members and 17 technicians.

Only one pilot, who is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital, survived the crash.

The bodies of 18 dead people were collected and taken to hospital. Seventeen of the dead were Nepalis and one was a Yemeni national.

The plane, a CRJ200, did not gain altitude during takeoff, slipped off the runway, fell down an embankment, and caught fire.

According to Flight Radar 24, the plane belongs to local Saurya Airlines, which operates domestic flights in Nepal with two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets.

Videos show a large fire and smoke near Tribhuvan International Airport. Firefighters and the Nepal army are on the scene. The cause of the fire is unknown.

4 die after plane with 19 on board crashes during take-off at #NepalAirport

Read here: https://t.co/Qu2F18oQOZ pic.twitter.com/Juq94bZOEG
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 24, 2024

The incident occurred at around 11:15 local time (05:30 GMT), just a few minutes after the plane took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport, according to the statement from the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority's search and rescue coordination center.

Tribhuvan International Airport is on a plateau surrounded by deep gorges and valleys, making it one of the world's riskiest airports. Nepal's air industry has poor safety records due to insufficient training and maintenance.

In 2023, a Yeti Airlines aircraft crashed in Pokhara, killing all 72 people on board, including five Indians. This was Nepal's deadliest crash since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu, killing all 167 people aboard.