Pilot is sole survivor in Nepal plane crash that killed 18, officials say

Plane was being transported by airline officials for repairs at time of crash

A small plane carrying 19 people has crashed during take-off from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

The flight operated by Saurya Airlines involved a small aircraft bound for Pokhara, Nepal’s second-largest city and a major tourist gateway for trekking and adventure sports.

The aircraft crashed at around 11am local time on Wednesday, according to The Kathmandu Post.

An official told Reuters that 18 bodies had been recovered from the site of the crash, while the pilot survived the incident with a head injury and has been taken to hospital.

Premnath Thakur, a spokesperson for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan international airport, said the 19 people on board the plane included crew members. The Himalayan Times reported that the plane – a Bombardier CRJ 200 with the registration code 9N-AME – was carrying technical staff from the airline and that there were no paying passengers on board, citing Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at Tribhuvan international airport.

Witnesses reported that the plane suddenly flipped during take-off and its wing tip struck the ground, causing a fire to break out. The aircraft then crashed into a gorge on the eastern side of the runway.

Rescue operations underway at the site of a plane crash (EPA)

The plane was reportedly being taken to Pokhara for maintenance.

“Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital,” said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, the spokesperson for the airport.

Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement: “Shortly after takeoff ... the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway.”

Nepal has been criticised in the past for its poor air safety record, and Nepali airlines are banned from operating in European airspace (EPA)

Saurya Airlines said that of the total on board, 18 were Nepali citizens while one engineer was from Yemen.

The airport was briefly closed for operations on Wednesday after the crash, but was reopened within hours.

Flightradar24, a flight-tracking website, said it did not track the crashed Saurya flight on Wednesday because the aircraft “was not equipped with a modern ADS-B [automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast] transponder”.

Nepalese army personnel sort debris after the crash (AP)

Nepal has been criticised in the past for its poor air safety record, and airlines based in the country are banned from operating in European airspace.

On 15 January last year, 72 people were killed when a twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines plunged into a gorge while approaching Pokhara international airport in the Himalayan foothills.

Smoke rises near to the airport following the incident (AP)

The site of that crash, which killed all those on board, was approximately 1.6km from the runway, at an elevation of about 820 metres. A report by investigators later revealed that the pilots had mistakenly cut the power, causing the aircraft to crash.

It was Nepal’s deadliest air disaster since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside on approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.

The Independent has reached out to Saurya Airlines for comment.