Plane crashed in Kathmandu: 18 dead, pilot survives

Eighteen people died after a Saurya Airlines plane, 9N-AME (CRJ 200), crashed while taking off at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Nepal's Kathmandu. Co-pilot Sushant Katuwal was among the victims even though the pilot of the plane, 37-year-old Manish Shakya, survived the crash.

The bodies of 18 out of the 19 people on board a Kathmandu flight were recovered, the country's civil aviation authority said.

Shakya was rescued from the wreckage and taken to a nearby hospital in Sinamangal for treatment. The plane was carrying technical staff of the airline, Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the TIA, told The Himalayan. The aircraft was being taken to Pokhara Regional Airport for maintenance.

After the crash, smoke was seen billowing from the plane. Police personnel and firefighters have been deployed to the site for rescue operations.

Eyewitnesses said the plane was taking off from the southern end of the runway when it suddenly flipped with the wing tip hitting the ground, The Kathmandu Post reported. The aircraft, which caught fire immediately, then plunged into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway.

The Kathmandu airport halted all flights of Saurya Airlines on December 6, 2018, after the carrier failed to pay its debts. It was allowed to resume operations in 2020 after it paid a part of the $355,000 debt it owed to the airport, a report said.