JUMLA, Nov 21: A Cessna Caravan aircraft of Makalu Air met with an accident at Talcha Airport in Mugu on Monday. The plane´s pilot Pradip Jung Shah was seriously injured, while co-pilot S Lama was also injured.
Two of the nine passengers are injured while co-pilot S Lama is unharmed. [break]
The injured passengers have been identified as Saurikala Budha and Prem Bham of Mugu. All the injured have been airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment, said Mugu´s Chief District Officer Surya Bahadur Khatri. The rest have gone home.
The chartered 9-NAJN aircraft was carrying nine passengers from Nepalgunj to Mugu. It met with an accident while landing as its brake failed, said Khatri.
However, Krishna Bhandari, director of Makalu Air, said in Kathmandu that the plane met heavy landing as the runway was slippery.
The plane had left Surkhet at 4 pm. It met with the accident at 4:30 pm.
A team of doctors had been sent from district headquarters Gamgadi to the airport to treat the injured. But the team returned mid-way after a Goma Air chopper arrived to bring the injured to Kathmandu. The airport is a two-hour walk from Gamgadi.
The plane hit a rock, after which it caught fire. As there is human settlement close to the airport, locals and security personnel brought water from nearby houses to douse the fire, said Bhim Dutta Pant, chief of Talcha Airport.
Meanwhile, Bhandari said another aircraft of Makalu Air has been sent to Mugu to bring the crew back.
This is the third accident in Talcha Airport in a year. Pilots complain that the runway is too narrow.
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