Pilot Left Sole Survivor After Saurya Airlines Plane Crash in Nepal

In a heartbreaking plane crash, eighteen people were killed. A plane that caught fire while taking off from Nepal’s Kathmandu. The only survivor of this fatal incident was the pilot as he was rescued from the burning wreckage, currently receiving medical treatment.

The flight carried seventeen employees 

According to a statement by Nepal Civil Aviation  search and rescue coordination center, it was a test flight, Saurya Airlines, carrying seventeen company employees. The flight carried technical staff, as well as two crew members, bound for the Himalayan tourism hub of Pokhara in the country’s west.

The flight crashed around 11:15 local time (05:30 GMT), a few minutes after it took off from Tribhuvan International Airport. Everyone died in this lethal incident, only the pilot survived with injuries in his eyes and forehead. 

Caused of the incident

Airport chief Jagannath Niraula said that the accident “happened as soon as it left the ground, in not even a minute”, Although it is still vague about the cause the incident 

Footage showed the plane tilting above the runway before crashing into the ground. It caught fire as soon as it crashed. The photos revealed the aftermath of the incident with large parts of the plane completely blackened and charred

The head of Tribhuvan International Airport said that an initial assessment showed that the plane had flown in the wrong direction.

“As soon as it took off, it turned right, [when it] should have turned left,” Mr Niraula said

Statement by a spectator

One man who was inside a nearby shop when the accident occurred said: “There was a very loud noise, it sounded like maybe a truck had overturned on the road. 

“We ran after we saw, the plane then hit the ground and caught fire. We were about to run to the site but then there was an explosion so we ran away again,” he said 

Deadliest air crash in Nepal

It is said that it was the deadliest air crash in Nepal since 1992, 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.

Nepal has been criticized for the poorest air safety records and considered as the most dangerous countries for air travel. Additionally, All Nepali air carriers are banned from entering the airspace of any European Union country.

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