A chilling video of the Nepal plane crash that claimed 18 lives on Wednesday shows the fateful moments of the tragic accident at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport. The footage, seemingly from a CCTV, shows the Saurya Airlines plane being engulfed in flames, soon after it skid off the runway.
However, the authenticity of the video couldn't be independently verified by LiveMint.
According to a press statement by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the Saurya Airlines plane took off from Kathmandu at 11:11 AM and was heading to the resort town of Pokhara.
The plane had already taken off and turned right before it crashed in the eastern section of the airport, it said.
Tribhuvan International Airport is the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights. It has been closed as emergency crew and investigators began their work.
It is monsoon rainy season in the area but was not raining at the time of the crash. However, visibility was low across the capital.
The domestic plane crash killed 18 people and injuring a pilot who was the lone survivor.
The only survivor was the pilot, who was taken to Kathmandu Medical College Hospital for treatment, said a doctor at the hospital who was not authorized to speak to media. The pilot has injuries to the eyes but is not in any danger, the doctor said.
Recounting the harrowing experience of witnessing the Nepal plane crash, eyewitnesses said that if the plane wouldn't have hit the container, it would have definitely hit the residential area.
Eyewitness, Aadesh Lama, who witnessed the crash, said, “I was working here at my garage in the morning and then I heard a loud sound. We thought a tyre had burst but we came to know that a plane had crashed. It had knocked a container…"
"If it wasn't the container then it surely would have slid down and hit the residential area. The container saved us. It struck the container and came to the ground and got engulfed by fire,” Lama added.
Another eyewitness, Krishna Bahadur Thapa, said, “I heard a loud bang, about three to four of us were here. We first assumed it to be a vehicle accident but it turned out to be an aircraft that had crashed.”
"The plane slid down and stopped, at first there was the sound, then after the smoke billowed and then it was engulfed by fire. I rushed near to the site where the plane crashed and there again was an explosion and then I ran backwards with fear," Thapa added.
(With agency inputs)
