The string of air disasters in Nepal, one of the most dangerous countries to fly

To the long list of air accidents In Nepal, both national and international airlines reported a new incident on Wednesday when a plane taking off from Kathmandu airport crashed, killing 19 passengers.

The pilot of the plane that crashed this morning, which was heading to the city of Pokhara, a common entry point to the Himalayas, has been the only survivor of today’s spectacular accident.

The Asian country is considered one of the most dangerous to fly in due to the frequency with which it has recorded tragic fatal accidents, which have claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

The poor condition of domestic aircraft and airport infrastructure, rapidly changing weather and adverse topography are cited as some of the reasons behind the accidents.

Nepal has been the subject of repeated international sanctions for its lack of controls, and the European Union has banned Nepalese airlines from entering its territory since 2013.

In January 2023, a Nepalese Yeti Airlines flight crashed in Pokhara with 72 people on board, the worst incident in a decade in the Asian country. It was attributed to human error and left no survivors.

On May 29, 2022, a Tara Air Twin Otter crashed while en route from the same airport to Jomsom, a route of just 20 minutes that overflows the Himalayas. All 22 occupants died.

A US-Bangla airline plane from Dhaka crashed in March 2018 while trying to land, with 67 passengers and four crew on board, leaving around 50 dead.

That same year, on September 28, 19 people died when a Sita Air Dornier plane caught fire after a bird collided with the aircraft shortly after taking off from the capital’s airport.

Two years earlier, in February 2016, a Twin Otter from Nepalese airline Tara Air crashed after taking off from Pokhara airport, killing all 23 people on board.

On 16 February 2014, all 18 people on board a Twin Otter aircraft were killed when a Nepal Airlines plane, which had departed from Pokhara bound for Jumla, crashed. Poor visibility due to snow was cited as the possible cause of the accident.

The most serious accident recorded in the history of Nepal It was on September 28, 1992, when an Airbus-300 of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) company crashed during approach maneuvers to the Kathmandu airport, causing the death of 167 people, including thirty Spaniards.

Two months earlier, one of the highest number of deaths had already been recorded, with 113 passengers on board, who were on board an Airbus A310-300 of the Thai company Thai Airways, after it crashed on landing.