KATHMANDU, Nepal — A plane slipped off a runway and crashed during takeoff here on Wednesday morning, killing everyone on board except the pilot, according to Nepali police.
Rescue teams recovered 18 bodies after the Saurya Airlines passenger plane crashed at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, Dan Bahadur Karki, deputy inspector general of the Nepal Police, told The Washington Post. Seventeen of the passengers were Nepalis — including one child — while one passenger was Yemeni, the airport’s rescue coordination center said in a news release.
Most of those on board were airline maintenance workers, Karki said, adding that the pilot, the sole survivor, was admitted to a hospital in stable condition.
The Bombardier CRJ 200 plane was flying for maintenance to Pokhara, a resort town that is a 25-minute flight west of Kathmandu, said Subash Jha, a spokesman for Tribhuvan International Airport. The airport has been temporarily shut down.
Airport workers who witnessed the crash told The Post that the plane was taking off from the southern end of the runway when it flipped and its right wing tip hit the ground.
The aircraft caught fire immediately and plunged into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway, said Mukesh Khanal, a spokesman for Saurya Airlines.
In surveillance viewed by The Post, the aircraft can be seen flying low, then tilting toward the right and crashing in flames.
Thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the airport on Wednesday afternoon.
It is not yet clear how the plane slipped and crashed at 11:11 a.m. local time. Kathmandu was experiencing clear and sunny skies, without rainfall, on Wednesday morning.
“Everything was normal before the flight was ready to take off,” Khanal said, adding that the crash would be investigated.
Sanjiv Gautam, the former director of Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said in an interview that it appeared the flight had broken civil aviation rules, as planes being flown elsewhere for maintenance are not permitted to carry any passengers, including airline employees.
Nepal has a poor aviation safety record, with several deadly crashes in recent years. A January 2023 Yeti Airlines crash in Pokhara killed all 72 people aboard, while a March 2018 US-Bangla Airlines crash at Tribhuvan International Airport killed 51.
The European Union has banned air carriers certified in Nepal, including Saurya Airlines, from flying into the 27-nation bloc, citing safety concerns.
Critics have accused the aviation industry of being beset with corruption and mismanagement. Aviation experts have also cited Nepal’s mountainous terrain — with high-elevation airports, short runways, strong winds and lower air pressures — as factors that make flying difficult.
Javaid reported from London.
