Technical glitch may have led to mishap

Kathmandu, March 12: A US-Bangla Airlines aircraft crashed and burst into flames on Monday while landing at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport here, killing at least 50 people, officials said.

“The plane shoot off the runway while it was about to crash into the hanger and immediately caught fire,” an airport official was quoted as saying by the Himalayan Times.

The officials, however, have said a technical glitch could be the cause of the accident.

“The aircraft was permitted to land from the Southern side of the runway over Koteshwor but it landed from the Northern side,” director general of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) Sanjiv Gautam was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.

He said the plane was out of control when it attempted to land on the runway.