Nepalese rescuers stand near a passenger plane from Bangladesh that crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, March 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shreshta)
Republished March 12, 2018 - 11:06 AM
Original Publication Date March 12, 2018 - 4:11 AM
KATHMANDU, Nepal - The Latest on a plane crash at the Kathmandu airport (all times local):
9:30 p.m.
A top airport official in Nepal says the plane that crashed as it landed in the country's capital today had approached the airport's only runway from the wrong direction.
The plane was carrying 71 people on a flight from Bangladesh. Officials say at least 50 people were killed. According to officials and witnesses, the plane swerved erratically and flew dangerously low before it crashed and erupted in flames.
The airport's general manager, Raj Kumar Chetri, says the pilot of the plane didn't follow landing instructions from the control tower, and the plane "was not properly aligned with the runway." He says the tower repeatedly asked if the pilot was OK, and the reply was "yes."
A recording of conversations between the pilot and air traffic controllers indicated confusion over which direction the plane should land.
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5:30 p.m.
A spokesman for Dhaka-based US-Bangla Airlines says a flight that crashed in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, was carrying 67 passengers: 32 from Bangladesh, 33 from Nepal and one each from China and the Maldives.
Airline spokesman Kamrul Islam says there were four crewmembers on board, but did not provide their nationalities.
The plane, a twin-propeller Bombardier Dash 8 flying from Bangladesh, swerved repeatedly before it crashed, landing near the runway and bursting into flames.
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4:30 p.m.
A police official says at least 38 people were killed and 23 injured when a plane crashed as it landed at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said 10 people remained unaccounted for in Monday's crash.
The plane, a twin-propeller Bombardier Dash 8 flying from Bangladesh, swerved repeatedly before it crashed, landing near the runway.
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4 p.m.
A passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed Monday at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal, killing at least a dozen people, officials and witnesses said.
The twin propeller plane, a Bombardier Dash 8, can carry about 70 passengers, though it was not immediately clear how many people were on board.
At least 12 bodies have been recovered, according to an AP journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the crash and saw the US-Bangla Airlines plane broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers clustered around the wreckage.
An airline official said some injured passengers had been taken away by ambulance.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018