Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk:–Total 71 people were on board
–33 Nepali, 32 Bangladeshi, 1 Chinese, 1 Maldivian.
— The passengers included 37 males, 27 females, 2 children
— Black box recovered
— Tribhuvan airport closed
— Probe committee formed
At least 50 people were killed as an aircraft of US-Bangla Airlines crashed in Kathmandu of Nepal today.
Quoting an army spokesperson, Reuters reports the airliner with 71 people on board crashed while coming in to land at Tribhuvan International Airport, killing at least 50 people.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, general manager of the airport, told The Daily Star around 5:20pm that so far 17 people have been found alive. The black box of the aircraft was also recovered from the spot, the GM said.
Some injured passengers were rushed to the hospital while the fire-fighters are trying to rescue other remaining passengers, a journalist from Nepal told The Daily Star.
The 76-seated aircraft took off around 12:30pm from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka with 71 on board — 67 passengers and four crews, said US-Bangla Airlines’ General Manager of Marketing (support) Kamrul Islam.
The passengers included 37 males, 27 females and 2 children.
The airline spokesman Kamrul Islam, told AFP 33 of the passengers were Nepali, 32 were Bangladeshi, one was Chinese and one from the Maldives.
Contacted over phone, Abdullah al Mamun, managing director of US-Bangla Airlines, told The Daily Star around 3:20pm that they were trying to contact with the control tower of TIA to know what exactly happened to the craft and would inform immediately.
The Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) was declared closed following the crash, the TIA GM said.
The aircraft careened off the runway during landing and crashed onto a football ground near TIA, The Kathmandu Post said quoting TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur.
The aircraft caught fire following the crash. Rescue team of TIA and Nepal Army personnel have been engaged in rescue operation.
The Nepalese prime minister, home and Industry ministers are at the scene.
On March 4, a Jessore bound US-Bangla Airline’s plane made a safe emergency landing in Dhaka.
