A plane carrying passengers from Bangladesh crashed and caught fire just as it landed at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal
The Bombardier Dash 8 can carry up to 70 people, but it is still unkown how many passengers were on the plane in the moment of the crash. At least 12 passengers were killed and their bodies have been recovered.
The plane was broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers around the wreckage.
Some of the injured passengers had been taken to the hospital by ambulances who immediately came at the place of the crash.
Amanda Summers watched the entire scene from the terrace of her home office, which is not far from the airport and was shocked by the view.
“It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains,” she said. She said it was unclear if it had reached the runway when it landed. “All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast,” she said.
The firefighters immediately put out the flames, within a minute, even though thick clouds of dark smoke rose into the sky.
The US-Bangla manager mentioned that the plane had circled the airport two times as it waited for permission to land.
The airline is based in Dhaka and flies to both domestic and international destinations. Moreover, the company is involved in a number of industries, such as real estate, education and agriculture.
Unfortunately, the airport in Kathmandu has seen many deadly crashes. Foe example, in September 2012, a Sita Air turboprop plane hit a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 19 passengers.
Source: bloomberg.com
