KATHMANDU: A US-Bangla Airlines aircraft with 67 passengers and four crew members on board today overshot the runway and crashed at Nepal’s international airport here, killing at least eight people, officials said.
The plane caught fire after it careened off the runway during landing and crashed onto a football ground near the airport, the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) spokesperson, Prem Nath Thakur, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.
Thakur said 25 people were rescued and taken to Kathmandu Medical College, Teaching Hospital in Sinamangal. However, eight of those rescued were pronounced dead upon arrival, he added.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football ground where the plane crashed.
“The plane shoot off the runway while it was about to crash into the hanger and immediately caught fire,” an airport official was quoted as saying by the Himalayan Times.
The officials, however, have suspected technical glitch as the cause of the incident.
The aircraft took off from Dhaka and landed at the airport at 2:20 pm (local time).
The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, was reported to be on fire. Authorities say the fire has now been extinguished and rescue work is on.
All the flights to and from TIA have been halted after the crash. (AGENCIES)
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