 "Nepal plane crash: How pilot miraculously survived crash that killed all 18 on board")
A pall of gloom has descended over Nepal after a plane crashed during takeoff at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, killing 18 of the 19 people on board. The only survivor of the crash is the pilot — Captain Manish Ratna Shakya.
The crash, involving Saurya Airlines, once again puts the spotlight on the Himalayan kingdom’s poor aviation safety record — over 350 people have been killed in the country in 19 air crashes since 2000.
It has also made many, including the families of those who lost their loved ones, to wonder how the pilot emerged as the sole survivor.
Here’s what we know so far.
Who is the pilot?
Following the crash, the pilot, the sole survivor, has been identified as Manish Ratna Shakya. According to the official website of Saurya Airlines, Shakya is the chief of operations at the airline.
The 37-year-old, according to his LinkedIn profile, joined Saurya Airlines in December 2014 and has been a part of the company for more than nine-and-a-half years. He earlier flew for Simrik Airlines for nearly three years.
**Also read: Are Nepal's runways a recipe for disaster?**How did the pilot survive the crash?
On Wednesday, the Saurya Airlines plane — a CRJ200 aircraft — took off from Tribhuvan International Airport around 11.15 am with 19 people on board. The plane was carrying two crew members and 17 technicians to the city of Pokhara for maintenance checks.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHowever, within minutes of its takeoff, the plane “turned right and crashed on the east side of the runway”, as per a statement by Nepal Civil Aviation Authority’s search and rescue coordination centre.
Footage from the scene of the crash showed thick smoke billowing from the burning aircraft on the airport runway.
While 18 of those on board died in the crash, the pilot managed to survive miraculously. Rescuers at the crash site said that they were able to reach Captain Shakya just as the flick of flames neared the cockpit section of the aircraft.
“He was facing difficulty to breathe as the air shield was open. We broke the window and immediately pulled him out,” said Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Dambar Bishwakarma to BBC.
“He had blood all over his face when he was rescued but we took him to the hospital in a condition where he could speak,” he added.
According to officials, the plane suddenly turned right as it was taking to the skies, before crashing into the east side of the runway. Video footage from the site shows the aircraft in flames hurtling across part of the airport before part of it appears to fall into a valley at the far edge of the site.
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Minister Badri Pandey was later quoted as saying: “It hit a container on the edge of the airport… then, it fell further below. The cockpit, however, remained stuck inside the container. This is how the captain survived.”
“The other part of the plane crashed into a nearby mound and it tore into pieces. The entire area away from the region where the cockpit fell down caught fire and everything was burnt,” Pandey said.
Captain Shakya, the pilot, was later rushed to Kathmandu Medical College where doctors revealed that he had sustained eye injuries as well as others to his head and face.
Later on Wednesday evening, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli visited Kathmandu Medical College and inquired about the captain’s health condition. The Himalayan Times reported that during his visit, he also spoke with the doctors involved in Captain Shakya’s treatment and with his family members.
What happens now?
After the crash, investigations have begun as to what caused the tragedy. The head of Tribhuvan International Airport said that initial reports showed that the plane had flown in the wrong direction.
Moreover, the post-mortem and identification process for the bodies of the 18 victims has begun at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj. The Kathmandu Post has reported that the hospital administration is considering to carry out some ‘cosmetic surgery’ on a few bodies as they have been burnt beyond recognition.
Grieving family members have also raised questions about the company and the civil aviation authority. Dirga Bahadur Khadka, a grand uncle of co-pilot Sushant Katwal said to The Kathmandu Post, “We suspect that the company put pressure on the pilots into flying the plane,” Khadka told the Post. “Otherwise, no one would like to fly a plane with technical problems.”
“A question also arises about the civil aviation authority, the aviation sector regulator,” he further said. “How could it allow planes with technical problems to fly?”
With inputs from agencies
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