National
Tara Air plane overshoots runway in Simikot; 4 hurt
Three crew members and a Nepal Police inspector were injured when Tara Air’s Twin Otter suffered a runway excursion during takeoff at Simikot Airport in Humla on Tuesday morning.Raj Bahadur Shahi
Three crew members and a Nepal Police inspector were injured when Tara Air’s Twin Otter suffered a runway excursion during takeoff at Simikot Airport in Humla on Tuesday morning.
There were no casualties. The DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft with 16 people on board lost directional control after a tyre burst during take-off at 9:40 am. The front part of the aircraft has sustained substantial damage.Flight captain Basanta Lama, co-pilot Anup Gurung, flight attendant Shreya Shrestha and Inspector Tek Prasad Dahal were injured in the accident, police said.
Yeti Airlines, Tara Air’s sister organisation, said in a tweet that another Twin Otter aircraft was dispatched to Simikot Airport immediately after the accident to airlift the passengers and crew members to Nepalgunj for further precautionary medical assessment. Bhim Dutta Panta, chief of the airport, said that the aircraft had flown from Surkhet ferrying rice, before the accident.
When the aircraft was returning to Surkhet, its front tire blew up when it was preparing to takeoff. The aircraft skidded from the runway and collided with an obstacle before coming to a stop.
The aircraft has suffered extensive damage to its nose. Its landing gear has also collapsed. The plane was carrying 13 police personnel returning to Surkhet after completing election duty in Humla district.