Passenger jet slides off runway, catches on fire in Nepal

March 12, 2018

A photo posted to Twitter by Bishnu Sapkota shows smoke rising from a US-Bangla Airlines passenger jet that slid off the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, March 12, 2018.

Bishnu Sapkota/Twitter

Last Updated Mar 12, 2018 5:58 AM EDT

A passenger plane owned by a joint Bangladeshi-U.S. firm has reportedly crashed in Kathmandu, Nepal, catching on fire after careening off the runway. The US-Bangla Airlines plane was on a flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Kathmandu but overshot the runway upon landing, an airport official told CBS News.

The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 twin turboprop was carrying 76 people, according to an official at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport. US-Bangla Airlines told CBS News it was not immediately able to provide any information regarding the crash.

BBC News reported from Kathmandu that as many as 17 passengers may have made it safely off the burning plane. There was no immediate word on the nationality of the passengers on the plane. Videos posted to social media sites appeared to show the badly damaged plane after the flames were extinguished.

Officials told CBS News off the record that many casualties were feared in the crash.

The Kathmandu Post quoted a spokesperson for the airport as saying the plan slid off the runway after landing and ended up on fire in an adjacent sports. Military personnel were being deployed to help the rescue operation, the spokesperson added.

US-Bangla Airlines has been operating since 2014 out of its home airport in Bangladesh. The airline is owned by US-Bangla Group, a joint venture company with offices in Dhaka, New York, India and other Asian hubs.