Sharjah24 - AFP: A passenger plane crashed on take-off in Kathmandu on Wednesday, with the pilot rescued from the flaming wreckage but all 19 others aboard killed, police in the Nepali capital told AFP.
Nepal has a woeful track record on aviation safety and the Himalayan republic has seen a spate of deadly light plane and helicopter crashes over the decades.
The Saurya Airlines flight was carrying two crew and 17 of the company's staff members, Nepali police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP.
"The pilot has been rescued and is being treated," he added. "Eighteen bodies have been recovered, including one foreigner. We are in the process of taking them for post-mortem."
The Civil Aviation Authority said the dead foreigner was a Yemeni citizen.
A press release from the airport said the aircraft "veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway" shortly after take-off.
The survivor was in serious condition in hospital, it added.
Ram Kumar K.C., who runs a tyre store near the accident site, told AFP the plane caught fire after hitting the ground.
"We were about to run to the site but then there was an explosion so we ran away again," the 48-year-old said.
The flight was being conducted for either technical or maintenance purposes, Gyanendra Bhul of Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority told AFP without giving further details.
Images of the aftermath shared by Nepal's military showed the plane's fuselage split apart and burnt to a husk.
Around a dozen soldiers in camouflage were standing on top of the wreckage with the surrounding earth coated in fire retardant.
The aircraft crashed at around 11:15 am (0530 GMT), the military said in a statement, adding that the army's quick response team had been lending assistance with rescue efforts.
The plane was scheduled to fly on Nepal's busiest air route between Kathmandu and Pokhara, an important tourism hub in the Himalayan republic.
Saurya Airlines exclusively flies Bombardier CRJ 200 jets, according to its website.
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