Get you up to speed: Turkish Airlines plane catches fire upon landing at Kathmandu airport

Turkish Airlines flight with 288 passengers catches fire as it lands | News World

A Turkish Airlines jet caught fire landing at Nepal’s main airport, forcing the airport to shut down.

The flight from Istanbul, with 277 passengers on board, landed at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport with fire and smoke billowing from the right-side landing gear.

Emergency crews responded to control the fire on the Airbus 330 and passengers were safely evacuated, according to airport officials.

Several flights bound for Kathmandu were put on hold while officials investigated the incident and attempted to clear the airport’s only runway.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said the fire broke out in the Airbus’ right rear tyre.

‘Technical inspections of the aircraft have been initiated by our teams. Initial ​assessments indicate ​that ⁠the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic ​pipe,’ Yahya Ustun, the airline’s ​senior ⁠vice president of communications, said.

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The aircraft was evacuated after landing (Picture: Reuters)

Another flight has been planned for the return of passengers to their destinations.

Nepal is notorious for its relatively frequent plane crashes due to its mountainous terrain and variable weather, which create difficult flying conditions.

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In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog at Kathmandu skidded off a slippery runway, shutting the airport down for several days.

Thankfully, the incident resulted in no injuries, and the plane was eventually towed out of the airport and converted into a museum.

The back right tyre caught on fire before landing (Picture: AP)

In 2023, an aeroplane carrying 72 people crashed near another airport in central Nepal.

The domestic Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu caught on fire moments before crashing.

It was described as the Himalayan country’s worst air incident in almost five years.

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