An aircraft belonging to Saurya Airlines, a Nepalese airline, crashed during take-off at the Tribhuvan International Airport today, killing 18 of the 19 people on board. Only the pilot survived, and he has been taken to the hospital.

Saurya Airlines aircraft crashes during take-off

The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ-200ER, registered 9N-AME, was going to conduct a sortie to Pokhara from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).  The plane was scheduled to travel to Pokhara Airport (PKR) for a technical test.

CCTV snippet of the crash shows the aircraft in a hard bank at a very low altitude before it crashed beside the runway and burst into flames. The plane flipped during takeoff, struck the ground with a wing tip, caught fire, and ended up in a gorge between a hangar and the radar station. The incident occurred around 11 a.m. local time.

According to reports, the aircraft did not carry passengers but airline staff. It was manufactured in 2003 and inducted into Saurya Airlines’ fleet in 2017.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has confirmed the loss of 18 lives.

Unfortunately, Nepal is a hotbed of such incidents. The country has seen tens of crashes over the years involving small jets and turboprop aircraft. Reuters mentions that over 350 casualties have occurred since the year 2000 due to plane or helicopter crashes. Most recently, at least 72 people were killed in a Yeti Airlines ATR aircraft crash in January 2023.

Bottomline

Nepal has witnessed a plane crash involving a CRJ-200ER aircraft operated by an airline called Saurya Airlines. The airline was conducting a test flight with 19 souls on board, and 18 lost their lives in the incident, which involved the aircraft skidding off the runway.

This is a developing story; check back for more details. 

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.