Nepal plane crash highlights: 18 passengers killed with pilot lone survivor

Prime Minister KP 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 he was deeply saddened by the tragic deaths in the crash 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.

- PTI

Nepal’s aviation authority identified one of the passengers as a child named Adhiraj Sharma, who was the son of Manu Raj Sharma, a technician of Saurya Airlines.

Sharma’s wife Priza Khatiwada and their four-year old son Adhiraj died in the crash.

A statement issued by the airline said that Priza and her son were initially identified as employees of the company, but it was later revealed that they were passengers.

- PTI

According to local media reports, the deadly Saurya Airlines aircraft, which crashed during takeoff resulting in the death of 18 people, was on a test flight. 

The flight, with call sign 9N-AME, was undergoing a C Check, which is a comprehensive test that a plane has to pass on a regular basis. The plane was headed to a hangar in the Pokhara International Airport for a part check-up, reported Nepali Times.

It is unclear why a test flight was carrying so many passengers, it added. 

In the last three decades, over ​50 flights have crashed​ in Nepal. The country ranks 33 out of the 207 countries ordered based on the number of plane crashes between 1990 and 2023 . With 1,578 plane crashes, the U.S. leads the list, followed by Russia (464) and Canada (369). India ranks 13, with 99 crashes in the period.

​Click here to read​ a detailed data analysis on the crashes that have plagued Nepal’s aviation history

A press statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said the Saurya Airlines plane had taken off at 11:11 a.m. from Kathmandu and was heading to resort town of Pokhara.

The plane had already taken off and turned right before it crashed in the eastern section of the airport, the statement said.

Footage from the spot showed dramatic scenes of the plane speeding down the runway before a fire breaks out with high flames and thick black smoke billowing from the wreckage.

- Agencies

The Saurya Airlines aircraft which crashed today had just taken off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport. 

In 2019, a Bangladeshi airliner crashed at Tribhuvan airport, killing 51 people while 20 on board survived. An investigation confirmed the plane was misaligned with the runway and its pilot was disoriented and tried to land in “sheer desperation” when the plane crashed.

In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog skidded off a slippery runway at the airport. The plane was carrying 238 people but there were no serious injuries.

The Kathmandu airport, the main airport serving Nepal, is located inside a valley surrounded by mountains on most sides. It is considered a challenging airport for pilots and bigger planes have to come through an opening on the mountain to land. It is right next to the city. The airport is surrounded by houses and neighborhoods.

- Agencies

A passenger plane carrying 19 people crashed during takeoff in Kathmandu on Wednesday with the pilot surviving but “many” others aboard dead, police in the Nepali capital

The Saurya Airlines flight was carrying two crew and 17 of the company’s staff members, Nepali police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.

Eighteen Nepalis and one foreigner were aboard the flight, Gyanendra Bhul of Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority told AFP, adding he did not have any details on the latter’s nationality.

- AFP

Following the fatal plane crash of Saurya Airlines which killed at least 18 passengers onboard, Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu has temporarily shut down operations. 

- Reuters

Police say 18 bodies have been recovered after a plane carrying 19 people slipped off the runway at a Nepal airport

Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.

But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance -- issues compounded by the mountainous republic’s treacherous geography.

The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.

The Himalayan country has some of the world’s trickiest runways to land on, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

Nepal’s last major commercial flight accident was in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines service crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all 72 aboard.

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.

Earlier that year a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

- AFP

At least 18 people onboard the ill-fated Saurya Airlines aircraft have been killed after the flight crashed upon takeoff, reported Nepal’s national news agency. 

The domestic plane with 19 people on board slipped off the runway and crashed while trying to take off from the airport serving Nepal’s capital.