Turkish Airline plane's tyre catches fire during touchdown at Kathmandu airport, passengers evacuated safely
PTC News Desk: A Turkish Airline plane caught fire during landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu in the early hours of Monday, triggering disruptions across international flights at Nepal's busiest airport.
The passengers were evacuated safely and blaze was douzed with the help of fire fighters, officials said. According to Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority Information Officer Gyanendra Bhul, emergency doors were opened to evacuate passengers from the aircraft after the fire broke out during landing.
The flight with 277 passengers onboard had arrived in Kathmandu from Istanbul when the plane’s wheels caught fire during touchdown on the runway.
“The Turkish Airlines TK 726 was en route to Kathmandu from Istanbul and the tyre had caught fire while landing. Using the fire engine, it has been contained. All the passengers are safely evacuated,” airport security official SP Rajkumar Silawal said.
After the incident, the aircraft remained stuck on the runway, disrupting international flight operations at the airport. Several incoming flights had to wait in Kathmandu airspace while the runway was temporarily shut.
Among the affected flights were Air India flight AI 215 from Delhi and Air Arabia flight G9 536 from Sharjah. Flights operated by Drukair from Paro, flydubai from Dubai, and Nepal Airlines arriving from Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou were also reportedly asked to remain in the air.
Videos shared on social media showed smoke and flames near the aircraft during landing as emergency teams rushed to the runway.
- With inputs from agencies
