KATHMANDU, Nepal — A passenger jet from Bangladesh slammed into the runway and caught fire upon arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Monday, and officials feared many of the plane’s 67 passengers were dead.

Huge, dark gray columns of smoke uncoiled from the runway as rescuers tried to save as many people as possible from the burning wreckage.

The plane, US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211, was landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on a flight from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, when it crashed at 2:15 p.m.. Witnesses said it was wobbling in the air and seemed unbalanced as it approached. The tail slammed into the runway, and fire erupted at the rear of the plane.

“It sounded like a bomb went off,” said Kailash Adhikari, a driver for a fuel company working at the Kathmandu airport. He said it took 15 minutes for firefighters to put out the flames.

Nepalese police officials said the flight was carrying 67 passengers; it was not clear how many crew members were aboard. After the crash, ambulances with screaming sirens rushed in and out of the airport gates. Some of the wounded were ferried to Kathmandu hospitals by helicopter.


Nepalese officials said they did not know how many people had survived. One witness said the fuselage had been reduced to ashes.

Airline officials were trying to determine the cause of the crash.

“Further details of the crash are still awaited,” said Kamrul Islam, general manager of marketing support for the airline.

Images on social media showed heavy black smoke rising from the airport.

Airport officials said that several people were still trapped in the wreckage 90 minutes after crash. Twenty-five burned bodies were visible at the site, and a photojournalist said that 10 survivors had been taken to the hospital. He said the plane came to rest about 150 feet from the runway.

After the crash, the airport was shut down, and officials said several planes were circling in the sky above Kathmandu waiting for clearance to land. Some were short on fuel as they waited.

The airline’s posted schedule said Flight 211, a Bombardier Dash 8 from Dhaka, was scheduled to land at 2:15 p.m., around the actual time of the crash. The plane, a twin-engine turboprop, can carry as many as 78 passengers.

US-Bangla Airlines began operations in 2014, and its route between Dhaka and Kathmandu was its first international one, said the Center for Aviation. The airline is a subsidiary of the US-Bangla Group, a joint American-Bangladeshi company.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/world/asia/kathmandu-plane-crash.html

Quite unfortunate... RIP to the dead

OMG!

This is really sad...saw it awhile ago on BBC breaking news.

I hope all these liars will not claim they saw the prophecy.

RIP

What’s going on

this is so unfortunate.

Too many these days. Save us from calamities Oh Lord

Rip

sad...may they Rip.

Nwa OOooo, if na nigeria dem go ask for buhari's head


abi na sai baba cause that one too

Terrible

may there souls rest in peace

so sad. I hope the doctors do all they can

Sad... Every transportation system with its own Hazard... Ship capsize (Sharks and drowning) ... Airplane disaster (Gravitational pull alone would kill you) Train � (Hmmmmm) Car � (can't even say Dat) Walk � (Na u go de ur lane jeje one mumu way don drink go con jam you) RIP to the dead I say

chai Buhari

FEared dead after this kind of crash and burnt?.

RIP i should said.

I jus weak.. Words fail me jawe

may their souls rest in de lord

Though I dreamt this today And wrote it on my FB. So unfortunate it happened after all.

Nepal's Lukla airport is the most dangerous in the world, as it is surrounded by mountains and short runways

RIP to the deceased

omobritiko:
What’s going on

What is going on kee
Its plane crash
U sure say u ready d news b4 u comment

So sad! RIP to the dead. God have mercy on us.

oh

Nepal again! RIP to the dead

Sad news, RIP to the dead

D

Death knows no time.... RIP to the dead.