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

A small plane carrying 19 people has crashed during takeoff 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, 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 9N-AME (CRJ 200) aircraft – was only carrying technical staff of the airline and there were no paying passengers on board, citing Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Eyewitnesses reported that the plane suddenly flipped during takeoff 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.

The aircraft was reportedly being taken to Pokhara for maintenance.

“Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital,” Tej Bahadur Poudyal, the spokesman for Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport was quoted as saying by Reuters .

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.”

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

Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International 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”.

Nepal has been criticised in the past for its poor air safety record, and Nepali airlines 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.

The crash site was located approximately 1.6 kilometres from the runway, at an elevation of about 820 metres.

A report by investigators later revealed that the pilots mistakenly cut power which caused the January crash that killed all those on board.

It was Nepal’s deadliest air crash 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.