THIS is the incredible moment the pilot and sole survivor of a plane crash in Nepal is pulled from the wreckage in a miracle escape.
The passenger jet crashed and burst into flames after taking off from capital Kathmandu, killing 18 people.
But the pilot managed to survive after his cockpit was split off from the jet by a freight container seconds before the rest of the aircraft crashed.
The Bombardier CRJ 200 plane operated by Saurya Airlines nosedived towards the ground after the failed take-off as it was beginning a 20-minute flight to Pokhara for a maintenance review.
Heart-stopping footage showed the aircraft uncontrollably spiralling towards a gorge in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning.
After falling from a terrifying 400 feet, the Saurya Airlines jet slammed into the ground, erupting into a fireball as it skids along the eastern side of the runway.
Thick, black smoke could be seen billowing from the plane as onlookers gasped in disbelief.
Captain Manish Ratna Shakya is now recovering in hospital after his miraculous escape, aviation officials said Thursday.
BBC Nepali also confirmed he is talking and was able to tell his family he was “all good”.
Rescuers found the stricken pilot as flames began to engulf the crashed cockpit, who miraculously suffered only injuries to his eyes.
Senior Superintendent of Nepal Police Dambar Bishwakarma said: “He was facing difficulty to breathe as the air shield was open. We broke the window and immediately pulled him out.
“He had blood all over his face when he was rescued but we took him to the hospital in a condition where he could speak.”
An army statement on Wednesday night added the captain was rescued bleeding but conscious.
Badri Pandey, Nepal’s civil aviation minister, also explained how the pilot managed to dodge death.
He said: “It [the plane] hit the container on the edge of the airport… then, it fell further below.
“The cockpit, however, remained stuck inside the container. This is how the captain survived.”
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.
Nepal’s government has since appointed a five-member investigation team to probe the causes of the crash.
Gyanendra Bhul of the Civil Aviation Authority said: “We will now hand over the black box and the remains of the plane to the committee for investigation.”
Saurya Airlines spokesman Mukesh Khanal said the flight was carrying a technical team to Pokhara to conduct an extensive maintenance review of the plane at the airport there.
Khanal said the flight was carrying two crew and 17 others, among them the young child of an airline employee.
Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.
But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance, issues compounded by mountainous Nepal’s treacherous geography.
The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.
Nepal has some of the world’s trickiest runways on which to land, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.
The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating perilous flying conditions.
Nepal’s last major incident involving a commercial flight was in January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines service crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all 72 people aboard.
That was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992 when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu airport.
NEPAL is one of the most dangerous countries to fly an aircraft in with a number of major safety concerns posing issues for even the most experienced pilots.
Almost 380 people have been killed in 19 air disasters in Nepal in the last 25 years – here is a list of the horror crashes.
JULY 24, 2024 – At least 18 people killed after a failed takeoff from Kathmandu airport caused the plane to crash into the runway and explode into a fireball
JULY 11, 2023 – Six people killed in a helicopter crash in central Nepal after setting off from a mountainous region near Mount Everest
JAN 15, 2023 – All 72 passengers onboard a twin-engine ATR 72 jet were found dead after the plane crashed in Pokhara
MAY 29, 2022 – Sixteen Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans all died just 15 minutes after they took off from Pokhara
FEB 27, 2019 – A fatal helicopter crash in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing all seven people on board
MARCH 12, 2018 – Bad weather caused an aircraft in Kathmandu to crash land leaving 51 people dead out of 71 passengers
FEB 24, 2016 – A small plane crashed in bad weather killing all 23 people on board in a flight to western Nepal
FEB 16, 2014 – Eighteen people died after a crash in adverse weather conditions
SEPT 28, 2012 – A small plane hit a bird mid-flight before crashing shortly after takeoff in Kathmandu leaving killing 19 dead including seven Brits
SEPT 25, 2011 – A plane heading to Mount Everest crashed in poor weather near Kathmandu, killing all 19 people
DEC 16, 2010 – Twenty two people died after a plane crashed into the Himalayan foothills of east Nepal
AUG 24, 2010 – Bad weather caused a fatal crash that left fourteen people killed
OCT 8, 2008 – A plane collided with the remote mountains of northeast Nepal killing at least 18 people
MARCH 4, 2008 – A tragic helicopter crash left 10 people dead
JUNE 21, 2006 – A Twin Otter passenger plane crashed minutes before landing killing all nine people on board.
MAY 25, 2004 – Three people travelling towards Mount Everest were killed in a crash
AUG 22, 2002 – A tourist plane smashed into a mountain after the pilot was left with poor visibility, resulting in 18 deaths
JULY 17, 2002 – Four people died after a twin-engined aircraft crashed into a mountain in west Nepal minutes before it was due to land.
JULY 27, 2000 – Twenty five people on board a jet tragically lost their lives
