Nepal plane crash: Airport blames US-Bangla pilot; top 10 developments

Expressing shock over the US-Bangla Airlines crash in Kathmandu that killed 49, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli tweeted that his government would 'investigate the incident immediately'

A passenger plane of the US-Bangla Airlines, flying to Kathmandu from Dhaka, crash-landed and exploded into a ball of flame on Monday at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, authorities said. Of the 71 people on board, as many as 49 were killed and 22 injured in the crash.

The death toll in the crash was confirmed by Nepal Police spokesperson Manoj Neupane. The aircraft caught fire after it skidded off the runway at TIA while landing. Subsequently, the plane crashed in a field, apparently due to technical glitches. The crash is being described as Nepal's worst aviation disaster in over 25 years.

Condoling the bereaved families, Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli tweeted that his government would "investigate the incident immediately".

Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Sanjiv Gautam, said that the plane lost control when it attempted to land on the runway. "The aircraft was permitted to land from the southern side of the runway flying over Koteshwor but it landed from the northern side," said Gautam. He added that the aircraft might have sustained technical glitches. "We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the unusual landing," he said.

On Monday, India condoled the loss of lives in the Nepal airplane crash and offered any assistance required. The US, too, offered its sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims who were killed in the plane crash at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

The victims of the Kathmandu plane crash were citizens of Nepal, Bangladesh, China, and the Maldives, according to a TIA spokesperson.

After the crash, all flights in and out of the Tribhuvan International Airport were cancelled. The airport was reopened later.

Here are the top 10 developments around the Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport plane crash, which is Nepal's worst aviation disaster in over 25 years:

1) Death toll confirmed: According to updated figures, 49 people were killed and 22 injured when the US-Bangla Airlines passenger plane crash-landed and exploded at Nepal's main airport on Monday. Nepal Police spokesperson Manoj Neupane confirmed the death toll.

According to Neupane's statement, 31 bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the crashed plane while 18 others died in hospitals.

→ Nepal Plane Crash ←

Iran private jet crash: Turkish heiress on bachelorette trip among 11 dead

The last videos posted to her account showed her and friends enjoying a concert by the British pop star Rita Ora at a popular Dubai nightclub

A Turkish private jet flying from the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul carrying a group of young women crashed tonight in a mountainous region of Iran during a heavy rain, killing all 11 people on board, authorities said.

The doomed aircraft days earlier carried a bachelorette party bound for Dubai.

Iranian state television quoted Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman of the country's emergency management organisation, as saying the plane hit a mountain near Shahr-e Kord and burst into flames.

Shahr-e Kord is some 370 kilometres south of the capital, Tehran.

Khaledi later told a website associated with state TV that local villagers had reached the site in the Zagros Mountains and found 11 badly burned bodies in the wreckage. He said DNA tests would be needed to identify the dead.

Also Read : Iran plane crash: Black box found; Mina Barasan's Instagram page removed

Villagers near the crash earlier said they saw flames coming from the plane's engine before the crash, according to a report by Iran's state-run judiciary news agency Mizan.

The plane took off around 4:41 p.m today and reached a cruising altitude of just over 35,000 feet, according to FlightRadar24, a flight-tracking website.

At around 6:01 p.m something appears to have gone wrong with the flight as it rapidly gained altitude and then dropped drastically within minutes, data published by the website showed.

Iranian officials said the plane took off from Sharjah International Airport on its way to Istanbul.

A private company that handles public relations for the Sharjah airfield, the home of low-cost airline Air Arabia, declined to immediately comment.

Sharjah is a neighboring emirate of Dubai.

Turkey's private Dogan News Agency identified the plane as a Bombardier CL604, tail number TC-TRB. Turkey's Transport Ministry said the plane belongs to a company named Basaran Holding, which The Associated Press could not immediately reach.

Click Here To Read More : Bachelorette Trip Gone Wrong

Plane with Brazilian soccer team crashes in Colombia

A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including a Brazilian first division soccer team heading to Colombia Plane Crash for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin's international airport.

Aviation authorities said there are reports of at least six survivors.

"It's a tragedy of huge proportions," Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where aircraft crashed.

Aviation authorities said the British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a Bolivian charter airline named Lamia, declared an emergency at 10 pm on Monday (0830 IST Tuesday) due to an electrical failure.

Authorities and rescuers were immediately activated but an air force helicopter had to turn back because of low visibility.

They urged journalists to stay away from the hard-to- access zone and stay off the roads to facilitate the entry of ambulances and rescuers. The area has been hit by heavy rains in recent days.

An ambulance transporting a male passenger with oxygen and covered in a blanket arrived on a stretcher to a local hospital, Blu Radio reported. He was apparently alive.

The aircraft, which made a stop in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was transporting the first division Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil. Read More