The pilot is the only survivor of a plane crash at Nepal's capital, Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport. It is understood that eighteen other people perished in the plane crash that appears to have caught fire just after its take-off from the airport on Wednesday.
The aircraft, belonging to Saurya Airlines is said to have been carrying out a test flight with 17 company employees and two crew at the time of the crash. The flight was scheduled to go to Pokhara in the country's west, a key tourist hub.
The flight was part of a routine maintenance check and crashed at around 05:30GMT, that's about 11:15 local time, just moments after take off. An eyewitness told the AFP news agency "There was a very loud noise, it sounded like maybe a truck had overturned on the road. We ran after we saw [the crash]. The plane then hit the ground and caught fire. We were about to run to the site but then there was an explosion so we ran away again,"
"Shortly after takeoff ... the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal advised in a statement. In videos of the scene, it appears that the aircraft tilted sideways before attempting to level out and hitting the ground, close to the airport.
Dan Bahadur Karki, a spokesperson for the local police told BBC Nepali 'that the pilot sustained injuries to his eyes and forehead but was not in a life-threatening condition.
Mukesh Khanal, head of marketing at Saurya Airlines said: The plane was scheduled to undergo maintenance for a month beginning Thursday ... It is unclear why it crashed"
It is understood the aircraft was one of two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets Saurya Airlines has in its fleet
