A Turkish Airlines jet caught fire while landing at Nepal’s main airport, causing the airport to shut down.
The flight from Istanbul, carrying 277 passengers, landed at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport with fire and smoke emerging from the right-side landing gear.
Emergency crews responded to control the fire on the Airbus 330, and passengers were safely evacuated, according to airport officials.
Several flights bound for Kathmandu were put on hold while officials investigated the incident and worked to clear the airport’s only runway.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal stated that the fire originated in the Airbus’s right rear tire.
Plane seen losing control seconds before crash that killed 68 in harrowing video
‘Technical inspections of the aircraft have been initiated by our teams. Initial assessments indicate that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe,’ Yahya Ustun, the airline’s senior vice president of communications, stated.
Another flight has been organized for the return of passengers to their destinations.
Nepal is notorious for its relatively frequent plane crashes due to its mountainous terrain and variable weather, which create challenging flying conditions.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet skidded off a slippery runway while landing in dense fog at Kathmandu, closing the airport for several days.
Thankfully, the incident resulted in no injuries, and the plane was eventually removed from the airport and converted into a museum.
In 2023, an airplane carrying 72 people crashed near another airport in central Nepal.
The domestic Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu caught fire moments before crashing.
Doomed plane passengers' final moments caught in Facebook live as crash kills 68
It was described as the Himalayan country’s worst air incident in almost five years.
Deputy Editor & UK News
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