The captain of a Saurya Airlines flight in Nepal is the only survivor in a horrific accident that killed all the 18 other passengers of the aircraft.
The incident involved one of the Nepal-based carrier’s smaller aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ 200. Reports indicate that the plane suddenly exploded into flames just moments after taking off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, with the plane supposedly veering violently to the right after takeoff, eventually crashing on the east side of the Tribhuvan International Airport’s runway.
Car parts store owner Ram Kumar Khatri Chetri, whose business establishment very close to the site of the crash, said that he saw a big fire that was generating massive amounts of smoke. He added that the crashed aircraft was difficult to get to because of the explosions and the heat and that the first few minutes after the crash was all “chaos and confusion.”
All the passengers of the 50-seater plane worked for the airline – two crew members and 17 mechanics and technicians – and the flight was headed to a hangar in Nepal’s Pokhara airport to undergo scheduled maintenance.
The pilot of the plane, who has not been named as of press time, is the only survivor of the crash. Reports say that he sustained injuries to his eyes, but is now out of the woods. There is also no other details on the captain’s status, such as if his condition will be permanent or if he will be able to return to work.
The airport was temporarily closed to allow investigators time to assess the scene of the incident, as well as for emergency teams to clean and fix the damage due to the crash.
The Kathmandu airport in Nepal has one of the most challenging runways for pilots to both take off from as well as land on. A plane from a Bangladeshi airliner crashed at the airport in 2019, claiming the lives of 51 people. Twenty people survived the ordeal.
