At least 50 people are reported to have been killed after a Bangladeshi passenger plane crash landed at Kathmandu airport in Nepal on Monday. There were 67 passengers onboard when the plane was forced to crash land.
A video posted by a user on Facebook showed smoke billowing out of what looked like a significantly damaged plane. The rescue team reportedly evacuated at least 17 people, who were shifted to a nearby hospital.
There were four crew member onboard too with local officials saying that the passengers included 37 males, 27 females and two children.
The airline has blamed the air traffic control, but the airport blamed the plane approached from the wrong direction. The audio of conversation between the pilot and the air traffic control, obtained by BBC, had the ATC say, “ I repeat, please turn.”
Local media identified the plane as S2-AGU, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, but there hasn’t been any confirmation by the officials. However, a report by CNN quoted an official as saying that the plane in question was BS 211, a US-Bangla US-Bangla Airlines, a privately owned Bangladeshi carrier.
Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) Sanjiv Gautam said that the plane was out of control when it attempted to land on the runway. “The aircraft was permitted to land from the Southern side of the runway over Koteshwor but it landed from the Northern side,” said Gautam suspecting the aircraft might have sustained some technical glitches. “We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the unusual landing,” he was quoted by Kathmandu Post.