Limited fire in Turkish aircraft during landing in Kathmandu leads to airport closure
A limited fire broke out in a Turkish Airlines aircraft during its landing at the main airport in Nepal on Monday, with no injuries reported, although the incident led to the airport’s closure.
The flight arriving from Istanbul landed at Tribhuvan International Airport in the capital Kathmandu amid flames and smoke in the right landing gear assembly, where emergency teams intervened, managed to control the fire, and safely evacuated passengers, according to airport officials. The airport was closed on Monday morning.
Reuters quoted a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal as saying that all 277 passengers, in addition to 11 crew members aboard the Airbus A333 aircraft arriving from Istanbul, were safely evacuated after a fire broke out in the aircraft’s right rear tire.
Several aircraft bound for Kathmandu were placed on hold while officials continued investigations and worked to clear the airport’s only available runway.
Nepal experiences relatively frequent aviation accidents due to its mountainous terrain and variable weather conditions, which make flight operations more challenging.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines aircraft landing in Kathmandu in dense fog veered off a slippery runway, leading to the airport’s closure for several days.
United News Network – UNN Arabic
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