The Freeman

Passenger plane crashes at Nepal airport, kills 49

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KATHMANDU — A plane crash at Nepal's main airport killed 49 of the 71 people on board, police said yesterday as an investigat­ion was ordered into the cause of the accident, which occurred after seeming confusion over landing instructio­ns before the plane, flying low and erraticall­y, struck the ground and erupted in flames.

In the recording posted by air traffic monitoring website liveatc.net, the pilot asked for permission to land from the north, which an air traffic controller granted. Less than a minute later the pilot said he was ready to land from the south, and the controller repeated that, clearing the plane to land from the south.

A separate conversati­on between the tower and a Nepali pilot added to the sense of miscommuni­cation between the controller­s and the pilot of the Bangladesh­i plane before the crash Monday.

"Looks like they are really confused," one man says in Nepali talking about US-Bangla Flight BS211.

"They appear to be extremely disoriente­d," another man said.

Just before landing the pilot asks, "Are we cleared to land?"

Moments later, the controller comes back on, using a tone rarely heard in such conversati­ons - perhaps even panic - and tells the pilot: "I say again, turn!"

Seconds later, the controller orders fire trucks onto the runway.

Kathmandu airport's general manager however only told reporters Monday that the pilot did not follow the control tower's instructio­ns and approached the airport's only runway from the wrong direction.

"The airplane was not properly aligned with the runway. The tower repeatedly asked if the pilot was OK and the reply was 'yes,'" Raj Kumar Chetri said.

Flight BS211 from Dhaka to Kathmandu was carrying 67 passengers and four crew members.

Police spokesman Manoj Neupane said Tuesday that 49 people were confirmed to have been killed and 22 injured. They were being treated in several hospitals in Nepal's capital. Autopsies on the dead would be done at the Teaching Hospital morgue.

The government has ordered an investigat­ion into the crash. A statement from the prime minister' s office said the six member team headed by a former government secretary will gather the facts to determine the cause and prevent future crashes.

The plane had circled Tribhuvan Internatio­nal Airport twice as it waited for clearance to land, Mohammed Selim, the airline's manager in Kathmandu, told Dhaka-based Somoy TV by telephone.

The plane swerved repeatedly as it prepared to land, said Amanda Summers, an American working in Nepal.

"It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains," said Summers, who watched the crash from the terrace of her home office, not far from the airport in Kathmandu's valley. "All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast."

 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Nepalese rescuers work after a passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, while other rescuers attend to bodies of victims.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Nepalese rescuers work after a passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, while other rescuers attend to bodies of victims.
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