A Nepal private plane crashed and caught fire soon after takeoff on Wednesday. A private plane airliner caught fire shortly after taking off from Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 18 out of 19 people on board, including a child and his parents, The lone survivor, the Pilot, is seriously injured.
Nepal Plane Crash Victims Identifies
The crashed plane was a 50-seater Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft of Saurya Airlines. It carried nineteen people, including two pilots, two crew members, and the airline’s technical staff. It was en route to Pokhara International Airport for regular maintenance service when the horrific incident occurred at 11:11 AM on Wednesday.
Table of Contents
Source: PTI
It is said that rescue operations were immediately initiated and the fire was brought to control. The statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said, “Shortly after takeoff from runway 02, the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway”. It added, “One injured person (Captain Manish Ratna Shakya) was rescued and taken to hospital, and 18 people were found dead”.
The Injured Captain Manish Rathna Shakya is seriously injured and is undergoing eye and spinal cord surgery.
According to sources, one of the passengers identified in the Saurya Airlines jet was a four-year-old boy named Adhiraj Sharma. He is the son of Manu Raj Sharma, an airline technician among those killed in the tragic accident. Unfortunately, Adhiraj’s mother, Priza Khatiwada—who used to work as an assistant computer operator at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation—also died in the mishap. Earlier, both were mistakenly identified as employees of the airline, which later turned out to be passengers.
The victims included the co-pilot, S. Katuwal, other members of the staff at Saurya Airlines, and an outsourced Yemeni national, Aref Reda.
Thirty-seven-year-old Captain Shakya is recuperating in the Kathmandu Model Hospital. District authorities said 15 victims died on the spot, while three others died at a local hospital.
Rescue Operations
Disturbing videos of the aircraft gutted in flames and smoke are already out on the internet. Fire brigades, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene. Rescue workers were seen rummaging through the debris in a lush green field, while bodies were being taken to ambulances on stretchers amidst the watchful eyes of locals.
According to Jagannath Niraula, the head of Tribhuvan International Airport, the plane was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara but turned right instead of left shortly after takeoff. “It turned right instead of left,” Mr Niraula told BBC News Nepali. Though he could not say what had caused the crash, the plane went down less than a minute after takeoff, sending up a massive fireball on the runway.
According to the Search and Rescue Centre of Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, the aircraft veered off the runway and erupted into flames. The site of the crash was visited by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and Home Minister Ramesh Lekh to get details and provide necessary instructions. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli expressed his deep sorrow over the demise of so many people and inquired about what went wrong with the officials from aviation.
The crash has temporarily brought operations at Kathmandu airport to a close, but services have resumed.
Background on the Aircraft and Airline
According to Planespotters.com, the Bombardier-manufactured aircraft was built in April 2003 and the sixth of its type was procured for use in Nepal. Saurya Airlines was established in 2014 and it operates flights to five domestic tourist destinations with three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets.
Nepal’s air safety record has been questioned due to its unpredictable weather, challenging terrain, and human error. Since 1955, 914 people have died in plane crashes in Nepal. In January of the previous year, all 72 passengers and crew, including five Indians, were killed in a Yeti Airlines crash in Pokhara due to human error. It was Nepal’s third deadliest crash after the 1992 Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines disasters, which resulted in 113 and 167 deaths respectively.
Saurya Airlines operates two CRJ-200 jets, a Bombardier-owned program that was acquired by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020. A third CRJ-200 in its fleet hasn’t flown for months. Bombardier referred queries to Canada-based MHI RJ Aviation Group, which has not responded to requests for comment. According to Saurya Airlines, they are the first to introduce jet service to Nepal’s domestic markets and fly to five key points in the country.
