Last Updated on 25/07/2024 by Ankita Jain
Kathmandu Airport Plane Crash: 14 years and 12 plane crashes. Nepal is probably the only country in the world where on an average one plane crash occurs every year. On Wednesday morning, as soon as a plane took off from Kathmandu airport, it crashed on the runway. The surprising thing is that the pilot survived in this accident, but 18 people on board the plane died a painful death. All the people who died were employees of the same airline to which the plane belonged. Since the accident happened at the airport itself, everything was captured in the cameras installed there.
24 July 2024, Tribhuvan Airport, Kathmandu
It was 11:10 in the morning. A flight of Nepal’s private domestic airline company Saurya Airlines was ready to take off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan Airport for Pokhara. The distance of about 140 kilometers was to be covered in 40 minutes. There were clouds in the sky, but the weather was clear. There were a total of 19 people including the pilot in this 50-seater plane. And all of them were employees of Saurya Airlines. That means there were no ordinary passengers on this flight.
Technical inspection was to be done along with the repair
The reason was that the plane was being taken to Pokhara to fix some technical flaws in it. Along with repairing the plane in Pokhara, its technical inspection was also to be done. ATC i.e. Air Traffic Control had sent this plane to runway number two for takeoff. The plane had reached the runway. After this, as soon as the necessary permission was received from ATC, the plane ran on the runway for takeoff. This plane was being flown by 37-year-old pilot Captain MR Shakya.
The plane became a ball of fire
As soon as the plane left the runway at 11:11, suddenly due to some technical faults, the pilot lost control over the plane. Instead of going straight after take-off, the plane was wobbling towards runway number twenty in the eastern part of the airport. And then within no time, a part of the plane collided with the runway on runway twenty itself. A ball of fire rose and everything was over.
The pilot is alive and the passenger is dead
But before the fireball engulfed the pilot, he had already fallen out of the plane. But the other 18 people on board were not so lucky. 18 lives were lost in a few moments amid the flames and smoke. Since the accident happened at the airport itself, the fire brigade and rescue team reached the plane in a hurry. The injured pilot was immediately taken to the hospital, the other 18 bodies were taken to the morgue.
The entire plane burned to ashes within minutes
Looking at the pictures immediately after the accident, it is known that as soon as the plane fell on the runway, it suddenly caught fire. Then, within no time, the fire and smoke engulfed the entire surrounding area. The way this accident happened and the speed with which the plane caught fire, there was no scope for people to survive. Within minutes, the entire plane was burnt to ashes and only a structure was left in the name of the plane. The bodies of all the people killed in the accident were completely burnt. In such a situation, it has become difficult to identify them. At present, the exact reason of this accident is not known, but Nepali agencies are engaged in investigating the matter, so that the truth can come out.
Services at seven locations in Nepal
That CRJ-200 model plane of Saurya Airlines belongs to Bombardier Company of Canada. Saurya Airlines has a total of three planes of this company. Actually, Saurya Airlines got approval in 2017 to provide domestic flight services in Nepal. This company provides its services at seven places in Nepal. These places are – Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Dhangadhi, Kathmandu, Nepalganj, Pokhara and Siddharthnagar.
That plane was like this, this was its specialty
The plane that crashed was manufactured in 2003. Only 50 people can sit in this plane which flies at a maximum speed of 860 km per hour. This plane can fly with a weight of about 6 thousand kilograms. Only 8000 liters of fuel can be filled in it at a time. After filling fuel once, it can fly a maximum of about 3 thousand km. This plane can reach a height of 40 thousand feet. It needs a runway of at least 1770 meters for take off and 1480 meters for landing.
There are an average of 300 flights per day in Nepal
There are three major airlines for domestic flights in Nepal. Nepal Airlines, Buddha Air and Himalaya Airlines. Apart from this, there are some smaller airlines as well. These include Saurya Airlines, Shree Airlines, Tara Air, Simrik Airlines and Yeti Airlines. On an average, around 300 flights take off and land in Nepal every day. These figures are a testimony to the fact that the air industry in Nepal has progressed a lot with the passage of time.
Reasons for increasing plane accidents
But it is also true that poor security system, lack of training and compromise with aircraft maintenance due to competition is also a big reason for the increasing plane accidents in Nepal. If we talk about the last 10-12 years, then Nepal is probably the only country in the world where on an average one plane accident occurs every year. However, it is also true that Nepal is surrounded by mountains with high peaks. The weather changes so fast that one does not even realize it. And on top of that, the name of Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport is also included in the ten most dangerous airports in the world.