KATHMANDU, March 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 49 people were killed and 17 injured after a passenger plane of the US-Bangla Airlines crashed at Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Monday afternoon, authorities confirmed.
Bishwo Raj Pokharel, a senior police official involved in the rescue operation at the TIA, told Xinhua on the spot, "49 people were killed and 17 others injured in the incident. Now we are carrying out rescue operations."
The 17 injured in the incident had been sent to hospitals for treatment, he added.
The Bombardier Dash Q-400 aircraft, with 67 passengers and four crew members onboard, crashed while landing. The UBG211 flight was en route to Kathmandu from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The TIA has been closed for the incoming and outgoing international flights following the incident.
The details of the incident are yet to be ascertained.
Nepali Prime Minister K.P Sharma Oli, Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and senior officials reached the airport following the incident.
The prime minister told reporters that the government would launch a probe into the crash.
The US-Bangla Airlines is a privately-owned Bangladeshi airline headquartered in Dhaka.
This is the deadliest air crash at the TIA airport after a Turkish Airlines flight crash-landed in March 2015.
