Eighteen people died in the plane crash

A plane carrying nineteen people crashed on takeoff in Kathmandu on Wednesday July 24, killing 18, police in the Nepalese capital told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that only the pilot survived, as he clarified earlier.

“Eighteen bodies found, including a foreigner”Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki said a post-mortem examination would be carried out. “The pilot has been recovered and is being treated”he added.

The Sourya Airlines flight was carrying two crew members and seventeen employees of the Nepalese company for the test flight, a Nepalese police spokesman told AFP. None of the authorities’ representatives could confirm the nationality of the only foreigner on board.

The plane crashed at 11:15 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. Paris time), the military said in a statement. According to reports, the Army’s Rapid Intervention Team is also involved in the rescue operations. According to Kabarhub news website, the plane skidded on the take-off runway and caught fire.

Lack of security

The flight was scheduled to fly on Nepal’s busiest air route between Kathmandu and Pokhara, a major tourist hub in the Himalayan republic. Shourya Airlines exclusively operates Bombardier CRJ200s, according to its website. The Nepalese airline offers domestic flights only.

Air transport of people and goods has grown in recent years in Nepal, but has been hampered by a lack of security due to inadequate training and maintenance. The problems are exacerbated by the republic’s geography of high mountains.

Nepal has experienced several fatal plane and helicopter accidents in recent decades. The last incident in Nepal was in January 2023 when an Eti Airlines flight crashed while landing in Pokhara, killing all 72 people on board.

It was the worst crash in Nepal since 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport killing all 167 people on board. That year, a Thai Airways flight also crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.