Bangladeshi Plane Crashes In Nepal, 49 Dead

A US-Bangla Airlines flight from Bangladesh to Nepal crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport on Monday, killing at least 49 people.

The aircraft, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, was flying from Dhaka to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport when it came in on a low approach and crashed just short of the runway.

There were 71 passengers and crew onboard flight BS211, 33 from Nepal, 32 from Bangladesh, and one each from China and the Maldives. The four crew members are Bangladeshi.

Several survivors were rescued from the burning aircraft, with 22 taken to area hospitals.

Prior to the crash, the pilots and air traffic control discussed which direction the aircraft should land from at the single-runway airport. ATC gave the aircraft permission to land, but recordings of the radio conversation appear to show that the pilot wanted to land from the opposite direction.

The aircraft circled the airport twice at low altitude before lining up for a landing. The final approach appears to have been too low and the plane crashed and burst into flames. The local fire service extinguished the blaze quickly, the airport said.

Doubts have been cast on the instructions given by Nepalese air traffic control, which may have contributed to confusion prior to the crash.

US-Bangla Airlines is a privately owned Bangladeshi carrier that flies Boeing 737-800 and Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400s from Dhaka’s Shahjalal Airport.