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The pilot of the Saurya Airlines flight, which took off from Kathmandu, is the only survivor, authorities said.
By Bhadra Sharma and Yan Zhuang
Bhadra Sharma reported from Kathmandu, Nepal.
A small plane crashed Wednesday while taking off from an airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, killing 18 other people on board, officials said.
The pilot of the Saurya Airlines flight is the only survivor and is seriously injured, the government said. The plane took off at 11:11 a. m. from Tribhuvan International Airport and headed for Pokhara, Nepal’s second-largest city and a tourist destination in the Himalayas, the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The plane then turned to the right before crashing on the east side of the runway and catching fire, according to the statement. Authorities said the case would not be made transparent without delay and that an investigation would be launched.
Among the dead were the plane’s co-pilot and a child, the airline government said. One passenger was from Yemen and the others were Nepalis. Photographs of the crash site published through local media showed the charred wreckage of the plane scattered in pieces.
Nepal’s aviation sector has a poor protection record, with a series of injuries in recent years resulting in dozens of deaths. Experts say rugged, mountainous topography and unpredictable weather situations are partly to blame for the country’s most common plane crashes.
Some experts also say the government has failed to improve the industry. The Nepalese government is guilty of regulating aircraft and operating airports, which critics say presents a clash of interests.
In January last year, a Yeti Airlines flight crashed in Pokhara while attempting to land at a newly built airport, killing the other 72 people on board. Investigators later said the crash was due to the pilot pulling on the levers while trying to land, turning the propeller angle instead of the wing flaps.
In May 2022, a Tara Air plane, a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines, crashed in a mountainous region during a flight from Pokhara to Jomsom, a town perched in the Himalayas, killing all 22 passengers on board. In 2016, the Tara Air plane crashed while on the same route, killing the other 23 people on board.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers affairs. Learn more about Yan Zhuang
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