Plane crash in Nepal leaves 18 dead with pilot as sole survivor

A Saurya Airlines plane attempted to take off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal on Wednesday morning but ended up skidding off the runway and crashed. The plane was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to Pokhara city to repair another aircraft, officials said.

The pilot was the only one onboard to survive, as officials said that 18 people had died in the crash. Seventeen of those who died are Nepali while one is a Yemeni national, who was working as an engineer.

Videos shared online shows the Bombardier CRJ 200 plane flying low above the runway before suddenly tilting sideways and quickly heading nose-first towards the ground. The aircraft exploded into a fireball, with black smoke filling the sky as horrified bystanders watched on from an airport shuttle bus.

"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.

It is not yet clear what caused the crash with investigations currently undergoing. An airport official said "some cracking noises were heard" from the plane.

Nepal is a country often referred to as one of the riskiest places to fly due to multiple factors including its mountainous terrain. In January 2023, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti Airlines crash that was later attributed to the pilots accidentally cutting the power.