Kathmandu – At least 50 people were reportedly killed after a US-Bangla Airlines flight, carrying 67 passengers and four crew members, crashed and exploded into a ball of fire at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, on the afternoon of 12 March.

“Fifty people were killed in the incident. Now we are carrying out rescue operations,” Bishwo Raj Pokharel, a senior police official involved in the rescue operation at TIA, told Xinhua news agency.

The 78-seater Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, with 71 people on board, was flying from Dhaka to Kathmandu. It veered off the runway and caught fire while landing at 2.20 p.m., said TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur.

All flights in and out of the Tribhuvan International Airport were cancelled. The airport was reopened later.

Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Sanjiv Gautam said the plane lost control when it attempted to land on the runway.

“The aircraft was permitted to land from the southern side of the runway flying over Koteshwor but it landed from the northern side,” said Gautam, adding that the aircraft might have sustained technical glitches.

“We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the unusual landing,” he said.