Plane crash kills 18 as aircraft slips off runway while attempting take-off at Nepal airport
The pilot is the only survivor after a domestic plane carrying 19 people skidded off the runway and crashed while attempting to take off in Nepal.
The plane was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to the city of Pokhara for maintenance checks, airport security chief Arjun Chand Thakuri said.
Mr Thakuri also told local media the plane "caught fire" after it left the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in the capital Kathmandu.
TV channels showed firefighters trying to put out the fire and thick black smoke rising into the sky.
The fire has now been brought under control as images show the charred wreckage of the plane.
Police official Basanta Rajauri said authorities have pulled out the bodies of all 18 of those who died.
"Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital," said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, the spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.
The pilot was taken to Kathmandu Medical College Hospital with eye injuries but his condition is not life-threatening, said a doctor at the hospital who was not authorised to speak to media.
It is not year clear what caused the crash.
It is monsoon rainy season in Kathmandu but it was not raining at the time of the crash. However, visibility was low across the capital.
The plane belonged to local Saurya Airlines, media said.
Saurya operates domestic flights in Nepal with two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets, both around 20 years old, according to Flight Radar 24.
Tribhuvan International Airport, the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights, has been temporarily closed following the crash.
In 2019, a Bangladeshi airliner crashed at Tribhuvan airport, killing 51 people while 20 on board survived.
An investigation confirmed the plane was misaligned with the runway and its pilot was disoriented and tried to land in "sheer desperation" when the plane crashed.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog skidded off a slippery runway at the airport. The plane was carrying 238 people but there were no serious injuries.
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