4 Mar 2015

Plane passengers scramble to escape Nepal crash landing

Passengers rush to safety from a Turkish Airlines plane which skids off the end of a runway in thick fog in Nepal.

The Turkish Airlines plane overshot a runway in Nepal after landing in thick fog, forcing passengers to scramble down emergency slides to safety.

The aircraft’s landing gear collapsed and the plane nose-dived onto the runway during landing.

The Airbus A330 was en route from Istanbul to Kathmandu and crash landed at around 7:45am local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday morning.

Passengers can be seen scrambling onto the inflatable slides before skidding down to earth, and moving away from the aircraft shrouded in fog.

Heavy rain

All 227 passengers and 11 crew members onboard Flight TK726 were reported safe with two people suffering minor injuries, local media said.

Air traffic control at the airport said the plane missed the runway’s central portion, forcing the aircraft to skid on to grassy land.

It had been on a seven-hour flight and circled over Nepal for an hour before attempting landing.

Nepal has suffered heavy rainfall this week, and morning photographs circulating social media websites show fog surrounding the crashed aircraft.