Eighteen people were killed when a plane crashed and caught fire while taking off from Nepal‘s capital, Kathmandu.
The pilot, who is still in hospital, is the lone survivor of Wednesday’s deadly tragedy, having been rescued from the blazing wreckage.
The Saurya Airlines flight was carrying 17 corporate employees, including technical staff, and two crew members. It was destined for the Himalayan tourism hotspot of Pokhara in the country’s west.
Nepal’s aviation industry has a poor safety record, which has been linked to a variety of issues throughout the years, including unpredictable weather and low rules.
The flight, which was on its way to Pokhara for routine maintenance, crashed at 11:15 local time (05:30 GMT), just a few minutes after taking off from Tribhuvan International Airport, according to a statement from the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority’s search and rescue coordination centre.
Police spokeswoman Dan Bahadur Karki media that the pilot had injuries to his eyes and forehead, but that his life was safe.
One man who was inside a neighbouring shop when the accident occurred stated, “There was a very loud boom, it seemed like maybe a truck had flipped on the road.
“We bolted when we observed the crash. The plane crashed and caught flames. We were ready to run to the spot when there was an explosion, so we raced away again,” he told AFP.
Airport chief Jagannath Niraula told media that the tragedy occurred “as soon as it left the ground, in less than a minute,” but airport authorities have yet to determine the cause of the disaster.
However, the head of Tribhuvan International Airport stated that an initial examination revealed that the plane had flown in the incorrect direction.
“As soon as it took off, it turned right, [when it] should have turned left,” Mr Niraula told reporters.
The plane was seen teetering over the runway before slamming into the ground and bursting into flames. It rapidly got engulfed in fire and smoke.
Rescue personnel were seen working their way through the wreckage in photos, with significant portions of the airliner utterly scorched and charred. Photos from the aftermath also showed bits of the jet inside an air freight container.
Firefighters and ambulances were dispatched to the scene following the incident.
Seventeen of the dead were Nepalis, with one being a Yemeni engineer.