A Saurya Airlines plane crashed on takeoff in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, the Kathmandu Post reported today.

Nineteen people were on board the plane bound for Pokhara and eighteen are dead according to local officials.

Two crew members and 17 technicians were on board the plane, which was being flown to the city of Pokhara for maintenance checks, airport security chief Arjun Chad Thakuri said.

“Only the captain was rescued alive and is being cared for in a hospital,” Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport spokesman Tej Bahadur Pundial said.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper earlier reported that 5 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.

The plane caught fire after it veered off the runway at Kathmandu airport and crashed in an area east of the runway, Thakuri said.

According to officials, the airport was temporarily closed.

Local airline Saurya Airlines operates domestic flights in Nepal with two Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jets, according to Flight Radar 24.

Nepal has been criticized for poor aviation safety, and nearly 350 people have been killed in plane or helicopter crashes in the Himalayan country since 2000.

The deadliest crash occurred in 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus crashed into a hill on approach to Kathmandu, killing 167 people.

More recently, at least 72 people died in the Yeti Airlines plane crash in January 2023, which was attributed to pilot error.

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