Nepal: Plane skids off runway, airport closed for 12 hours
What's the story
A domestic aircraft skidded off the recently repaired runway of Nepal's International Airport, halting all the flights for some 12 hours that left thousands of people stranded, officials said. The Tribhuvan International Airport was closed after a Yeti Airlines aircraft skidded off its runway on Saturday night, the Kathmandu Post reported. The Jetstream 41 was carrying 21 passengers from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu. Here's more.
Services disrupted
Incident disrupted all airport services
The incident disrupted all airport services. However, no human casualty has been reported, the report said, adding that the airport resumed its normal operations 12 hours after the incident. The incident comes amid mounting safety concerns over cracks on runway's surface, which was repaired only recently. The latest incident is one of the many plane accidents that Nepal's airport has witnessed in recent years.
Previous incidents
US-Bangla Airlines flight caught fire in March
In March, a Dhaka to Kathmandu US-Bangla Airlines flight caught fire after it careened off the runway and plowed into a football ground near the airport, killing 51 people. In April, all 139 people on board a Malaysian passenger plane had a miraculous escape when the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight skidded off the runway and got stuck in mud while attempting to take off,