At least 18 passengers, including a Yemeni national, and a child, were killed after a domestic plane with 19 people on board slipped off the runway and crashed on July 24 while trying to take off from the airport serving Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
There were 19 people onboard the plane, which was headed to Pokhara, a tourist destination which is a 25-minute flight from Kathmandu.
Also read: Nepal plane crash LIVE updates
The incident took place at 11:11 a.m. (local time).
The accident site of a Saurya Airlines plane that caught fire after skidding off the runway while taking off is cordoned at Tribhuvan International Airport, in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
The plane was preparing to take off from the southern end of the runway (Runway 02). According to eyewitnesses, the plane suddenly slipped and fell into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway as it caught fire.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement that bodies of 18 people were recovered and that the lone survivor was rescued and being treated.
All passengers onboard were company staff, according to the passenger manifest. All were Nepali nationals except one, whose nationality was yet to be ascertained.
Police and firefighters rushed to the incident site immediately after the crash, as a black plume of smoke could be seen billowing out.
Nepal’s PM, Home Minister visit crash site
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and Home Minister Ramesh Lekh separately visited the accident site to gather details about the incident and provide necessary directives.
Mr. Oli said the tragic deaths in the crash deeply saddened him and was at the site to inquire about the cause of the air crash with the Civil Aviation Authority’s officials. He urged all for patience at this hour of grief.
Nepal’s worst plane accident
This is the worst plane accident in Nepal in 18 months, since its worst domestic aviation disaster on January 15 last year when a Yeti Airlines plane from Kathmandu crashed a few minutes before landing at the newly-built Pokhara International Airport, killing all 72 people onboard, including the crew. The previous year in May, 22 people died when a Tara Air plane en route from Pokhara to the tourist destination of Jomsom slammed into a mountain. Besides 16 Nepalis, including three crew, there were four Indian and two German nationals in the plane.
Wednesday’s crash is 105th in Nepal since the country recorded its first air disaster in August 1955. According to Nepal’s civil aviation authority, 914 people had died in air disasters until 18 people perished in the latest Saurya Airlines fatal crash.
Nepal’s poor air safety record
Wednesday’s crash once again has brought to the fore the oft-asked question about Nepal’s poor air safety record due to which the European Commission (EC) has imposed a ban on Nepali airlines in European skies for more than a decade. The EC and the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have repeatedly called on Nepali authorities to split CAAN so that there would be a clear distinction between two entities — one as the operator and the other as regulator. Currently, CAAN functions as both.
But to split the civil aviation body, new laws are required. Amid repeated calls from the EC and ICAO, the Nepal government on February 23, 2020 had registered two bills in Parliament. They were passed by the Upper House on August 2, 2021, but the successive governments and ministers despite their promises to get the bills through the lower house have shown little interest in doing so.
The EC imposed a blanket ban on Nepali airlines from flying into the 28-nation bloc following a Sita Air plane crash in September 2012 near Kathmandu airport, minutes after takeoff. All 19 people onboard, including seven British citizens, died. An already concerned EC then banned Nepali airlines from entering Europe, saying not much was being done to improve the air safety standards despite repeated incidents of air crashes.
According to Saurya Airlines’ website, it operates flights to five destinations with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets.
Flights that were suspended from the Kathmandu airport after the crash have resumed..
