The Nepal Army is carrying out rescue operations. | Photo Credit: ANI
Kathmandu: A US-Bangla
Airlines plane with 67 passengers and four crew members on board caught
fire after crash-landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal on
Monday. The Nepal Army is carrying out rescue operations and the exact
number of casualties is unknown. At least 17 people on board had been
rescued, authorities said. The state of the other people on the flight
from the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, operated by US-Bangla Airlines, was
not clear, airport spokesman Birendra Prasad Shrestha said.
The
plane caught fire after it careened off the runway during landing and
crashed onto a football ground near the airport, TIA spokesperson Prem
Nath Thakur was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. "We
are trying to bring the fire under control. Details are awaited," he
said, adding that the airport had been shut down and all other flights
diverted. "We're now concentrating on evacuating the passengers."
US-Bangla Airlines is a unit of the US-Bangla Group,
a US-Bangladeshi joint venture company. The aircraft took off from
Dhaka and landed at the airport at 2:20 pm (local time). Television
images showed smoke rising from the crash site.
"Our government is taking measures. We are
continuously monitoring. There were 67 passengers on board and 17 have
been rescued. The Foreign Ministry is in touch with the Nepalese
government. We were informed about it within minutes after it took
place. The authorities are preparing for the process of sending a team.
But Nepalese authorities are preparing for the rescue," Bangladesh's
Minister of Information said.
All the flights to and from TIA have been halted after the crash.
Mountainous Nepal is notorious for air accidents.
Small aircraft often run into trouble at provincial airstrips. A Thai
Airways flight from Bangkok crashed while trying to land in Kathmandu in
1992 killing all on board. The Bangladeshi carrier launched operations
in July 2014 and operates Bombardier Inc and Boeing aircraft.
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