49 KILLED IN CRASH LANDING FIREBALL
Plane plummets after circling airport twice
DOZENS of people have died after a plane carrying 71 passengers crash-landed.
Authorities said at least 49 people were killed when the flight from Bangladesh burst into flames after coming down in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari said several injured passengers were rushed to hospital but the fate of the others was unknown.
Police put the number of wounded at 23, with 10 people unaccounted for.
Pictures show the US-Bangla Airlines twinpropeller plane broken into several large pieces.
The plane swerved repeatedly as it prepared to land, according to American witness Amanda Summers, who works in Kathmandu.
The crowded city sits in a valley in the Himalayan foothills.
Amanda, who watched the crash from the terrace of her home office near the airport, said: “It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains.
“All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast.”
The plane had circled the airport twice as it waited for clearance to land, according to Mohammed Selim, the airline’s manager in the city.
The airline are based in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and fly to several domestic and international destinations.
Kathmandu’s airport has been the site of several deadly crashes.
In 2012, a plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest hit a bird and crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 19 on board.