Nepal - A passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed on Monday.
Published: Mon 12 Mar 2018, 12:09 PM
Last updated: Tue 13 Mar 2018, 12:48 AM
UPDATE: A Bangladeshi airliner with 71 people on board crashed on Monday while coming in to land at the airport in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, killing at least 50 people, an army spokesman told Reuters.
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A passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed on Monday at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal, killing at least a dozen people, officials and witnesses said.
The twin propeller plane, a Bombardier Dash 8, can carry about 70 passengers, though it was not immediately clear how many people were on board.
At least 12 bodies have been recovered, according to an AP journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the crash and saw the US-Bangla Airlines plane broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers clustered around the wreckage.
An airline official said some injured passengers had been taken away by ambulance.
"I can't say exactly how many have been rescued," Mohammed Selim, the airline's manager in Kathmandu, told Dhaka-based Somoy TV station by phone
Amanda Summers, an American who works in Nepal, watched the crash happen from the terrace of her home office, not far from the airport
"It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains," she said. She said it was unclear if it had reached the runway when it landed. "All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast," she said.
Fire crews put out the flames very quickly, perhaps within a minute, she said, though clouds of thick, dark smoke rose into the sky above Kathmandu, the capital of the Himalayan nation
Selim, the US-Bangla manager, said the plane had circled the airport twice as it waited for clearance to land.
US-Bangla Airlines operates Boeing 737-800 and smaller Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 planes.
The airline, part of US-Bangla Group, is based in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and flies to several domestic and international destinations. The parent company is involved in a number of industries, including real estate, education and agriculture.
Kathmandu's airport has been the site of several deadly crashes. In September 2012, a Sita Air turboprop plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest hit a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 19 on board.
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A Bangladeshi plane with 67 passengers on board crashed near Kathmandu airport Monday as it was coming in to land, officials said, as firefighters battled to extinguish the burning wreckage and rescue passengers. Bodies were recovered from crashed plane in Nepal, an official said.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal's only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu.
"There were 67 passengers and 4 crew members" aboard the plane, said airport spokesman Prem Nath Thakur.
"So far 20 injured have been taken to the hospital. Police and army are trying to cut apart the plane to rescue others," he added.
Live footage posted on Facebook showed the towering columns of smoke rising behind the runway, where another plane stood waiting on the tarmac
Emergency vehicles appeared to be heading into the smoke as people watched from a distance or filmed on their mobile phones.
Nepal has suffered a number of air disasters in recent years, dealing a blow to its tourist industry.
Its poor air safety record has been blamed largely on inadequate maintenance, inexperienced pilots and substandard management.
In early 2016, a Twin Otter turboprop aircraft slammed into a mountainside in Nepal killing all 23 people on board.
Two days later, two pilots were killed when a small passenger plane crash-landed in the country's hilly midwest.
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