Hundreds of passengers and crew were safely evacuated after a Turkish Airlines plane caught fire on landing at Kathmandu airport, officials in Nepal said.
The aircraft was carrying 277 passengers and 11 crew from Istanbul when its right landing gear caught fire during touchdown, according to Gyanendra Bhul, a spokesman for Nepal’s civil aviation authority. The airport’s only runway was closed for almost two hours before reopening.
Turkish Airlines said passengers left the aircraft by emergency slides after smoke was seen coming from the landing gear during taxi. The airline said it had begun a technical inspection and believed the smoke was caused by a hydraulic malfunction.
The incident adds to concerns about safety at Nepal’s airports, which are among the most difficult in the world because of their mountain terrain and short runways. Officials have faced repeated warnings over the country’s aviation record in recent years.
Bhul told the AFP news agency: “Fire was visible during the landing. Investigations are ongoing. All passengers are safe,”
Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun said in a post on social media: “A technical inspection of our aircraft has been initiated by our authorised teams,” and “Initial examinations indicate that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe.”
An additional flight has been scheduled for the return journey, Turkish Airlines said.
The latest incident came after Nepal’s aviation authorities were already under pressure to improve safety. Last year, government officials announced plans to install new radar and weather monitoring systems after a series of crashes and the European Union’s decision to blacklist all Nepalese airlines.
Turkey’s flag carrier has also faced an earlier runway incident in Kathmandu. In 2015, one of its aircraft skidded off the runway with 224 passengers on board. No one was hurt, but the airport shut for four days and many international flights were cancelled.
Monday’s fire did not cause injuries, but it did briefly disrupt operations at Nepal’s main airport, which handles the country’s busiest international traffic. Investigators are now examining the aircraft and the cause of the malfunction.
