Plane with 71 people crashes in Kathmandu

A plane carrying 71 people from Bangladesh swerved erratically and flew dangerously low before crashing and erupting in flames as it landed Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, killing at least 50 people, officials and witnesses said.

A top airport official said the pilot of US-Bangla Airlines flight BS211 did not follow landing instructions from the control tower, and had approached the airport’s one runway from the wrong direction.

The exact number of dead and injured remained unclear amid the chaos of the crash and the rush of badly injured people to nearby hospitals, but Brig. Gen. Gokul Bhandari, the Nepal army spokesman, said it was clear that at least 50 people had died.