Another year, another plane crash in Nepal. On Wednesday (July 24), 18 people died in a Saurya Airlines accident when the Pokhara-bound aircraft suffered a runaway excursion during takeoff from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport. There were a total of 19 people, including two crew members, in the flight when it took off around 11 am on Wednesday to get its broken engine repaired at Pokhara, but only the pilot of the aircraft could be saved while all others have died.
Nepal is known for its picturesque landscape that lures tourists but the country’s air transport sector has been plagued by multiple accidents and crashes. Since 2000, as many as 360 people have been killed in Nepal in at least 19 air crashes. Wednesday’s crash at Kathmandu’s TIA has added to the long list.
Nepal and its bitter history of plane crashes On January 15, 2023, Nepal witnessed its worst aviation disaster since 1992 after a Yeti Airlines twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft which took off from Tribhuvan International Airport with 72 people, including four crew members, on board crashed on the Seti River gorge between the old and new airport in central city of Pokhara. For the unversed, in 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu. Rescue officials could only manage to recover 71 bodies with the other missing passenger presumed to be dead.
Among those who were killed in the accident, fiv.