Some 18 people were killed after a plane crashed and burst into flames while taking off from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on Wednesday.
The pilot, who is currently being treated in hospital, was the sole survivor of the fatal crash.
There were nineteen people on board the Saurya Airlines test flight, including the airline’s technical staff and two crew members.
Nepal’s aviation industry has a poor safety record – blamed on a number of factors over the years, from unpredictable weather to lax regulations.
The incident occurred at around 11:15 local time (05:30 GMT), minutes after the plane took off from Tribhuvan International Airport, according to a statement by the search and rescue coordination center of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
Saurya Airlines’ test flight on Wednesday was en route to Pokhara for a routine maintenance check.
Airport director Jagannath Niraula told BBC Nepali that the crash “happened immediately after take-off, not even a minute”, although airport authorities have yet to confirm the cause of the crash.
However, the head of Tribhuvan International Airport said initial assessments showed the plane was flying in the wrong direction.
“As soon as it took off, it turned right, [when it] “It should have turned left,” Mr Niraula told BBC Nepali.
Footage of the incident shows the plane tilting on the runway before crashing to the ground and bursting into flames. It was quickly engulfed in flames and smoke.
Photos show rescuers making their way through the wreckage, with large parts of the plane completely charred. Photos of the aftermath also show parts of the plane inside an air freight container.
Fire engines and ambulances were dispatched to the scene following the incident.
Among those killed, 17 were Nepalese, the rest were Yemeni citizens, working as engineers.
Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told BBC Nepali that the pilot suffered injuries to his eye and forehead, but his life was not in danger.
Nepal has been criticized for its poor aviation safety record. In January 2023, at least 72 people died in a Yeti Airlines crash. It was later believed that the pilot had accidentally cut the power supply..
It was the deadliest air accident in Nepal since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it crashed while approaching Kathmandu Airport.
Saruya Airlines operates flights to five destinations within Nepal, with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets, according to the company website.
