18 killed as plane slips off runway, crashes at Kathmandu airport

Kathmandu: A passenger plane carrying 19 people crashed during takeoff in Kathmandu on Wednesday, killing 18 and leaving the pilot as the sole survivor, police in the Nepali capital told news agency AFP.

The plane belongs to the domestic Saurya airline and was en route to the resort town of Pokhara, an important tourism hub in the Himalayan republic. It crashed at around 11:00 am, with police and firefighters engaged in rescue efforts.

The Saurya Airlines flight was carrying a two-member crew and 17 of the company’s staff members for a test flight, Nepali police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.

Police official Basanta Rajauri said authorities have pulled out all 18 bodies. The only survivor was the pilot, who was taken to Kathmandu Medical College Hospital for treatment, said a doctor at the hospital who was not authorised to speak to media. The pilot has injuries to the eyes but is not in any danger, the doctor said.

AP also reported that the bodies have been taken to the T.U. Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for autopsy. The airline manifest showed there were two pilots and 17 passengers on board, among them there was only one female. The crew and 16 passengers were Nepali nationals with one identified as foreigner, a Yemeni national.