KATHMANDU, April 26: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has formed an internal investigation committee to investigate the truth of the problem seen on the aircraft belonging to Fly Dubai on Monday night. The aircraft encountered a problem with a momentary fire in one engine shortly after its take off from Tribhuvan International Airport.

Jagannath Niraula, the deputy director general of the CAAN, said that the probe committee has been formed to find out the truth behind the incident. "The probe body will find out the truth soon. We have asked FlyDubai for proof of the bird strike. FlyDubai cannot call the sky of Nepal unsafe to hide the weakness seen in its aircraft," he said.

Earlier, FlyDubai had claimed that the aircraft experienced a bird-hit in one of its engines. However, CAAN has rejected its claim and barred its officials from entering TIA for spreading false information. 

Deputy Director General Niraula said that the CAAN has temporarily suspended the passes of FlyDubai's Nepal Chief and its Station Manager accusing them of spreading the misleading information that the fire was caused following the bird’s hit in its engine. Stating that the CAAN has stopped their passes for the time being, Niraula said, “Further decisions will be taken on this after the actual reasons behind the incident is revealed.”

Claiming that FlyDubai had spread the misinformation that a bird had hit the plane, he said, "FlyDubai’s plane seems to have malfunctioned. It may not have been properly checked before takeoff. It has spread misleading news to cover up its mistakes. This incident has sent a message to the world that Nepal's skies are not safe. The misleading news has created doubt in the sky and the air travel situation in Nepal. In order to investigate its truth, the authority has already written to the security officer of Fly Dubai to investigate what the reality is.”

With the formation of an internal investigation committee, the CAAN has written to FlyDubai's security officer to verify the truth of the incident. Deputy Director General Niraula said that the report from the internal investigation committee will reveal the real cause of the incident. 

Call sign FDB 576, which took off from Tribhuvan Airport at 9:20 pm for Dubai, on Monday experienced technical snag shortly after takeoff. There was a problem with the engine, and a flash of fire was seen in the sky shortly after the takeoff .

 
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