A Nepalese private plane crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport here on Wednesday, killing 18 people aboard, including a child and his parents, and seriously injuring the pilot — the only survivor.

The 50-seater Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft of Saurya Airlines, carrying 19 people, including two crew members and technical staff of the airline, was bound for Pokhara International Airport for regular maintenance service when the accident occurred at 11.11am.

“Shortly after takeoff from runway 02, the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway,” said a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

It said rescue operations were initiated immediately and the fire was brought under control.

“One injured person (Captain Manish Ratna Shakya) was rescued and taken to hospital, and 18 people were found dead,” it added.

Captain Shakya is currently undergoing eye and spinal cord surgery.

The aviation authority identified one of the passengers as a four-year-old child named Adhiraj Sharma, who was the son of Manu Raj Sharma, a technician of Saurya Airlines who was among the dead. Sharma’s wife Priza Khatiwada also died. Priza worked as an assistant computer operator in the ministry of energy, water resources and irrigation.

A statement issued by the airline said that Priza and her son were initially identified as employees of the company, but it was later revealed that they were passengers.

Videos posted online showed the plane enveloped in fire and smoke. Fire engines and ambulances were rushed to the spot. Other visuals showed rescue workers rummaging through the charred remains of the plane strewn in lush green fields. Bodies were carried to ambulances on stretchers as locals looked on, the television showed.

The deceased were identified as co-pilot S. Katuwal, other employees of Saurya Airlines and a Yemeni national — Aref Reda. Captain Shakya, 37, is undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Model Hospital.

Of the deceased, 15 died on the spot while three died during treatment at a local hospital, authorities said.

According to Tribhuvan International Airport chief Jagannath Niraula, the plane flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara turned in the wrong direction. “As soon as it took off, it turned right instead of turning left”, Niraula was quoted as saying by BBC News Nepali. However, “the cause of the accident has not been revealed yet”, he said.

The accident happened less than a minute after the plane took off, Niraula said.

The aircraft “suffered a runway excursion and burst into massive flames immediately”, the Search and Rescue Centre of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had earlier said.

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and home minister Ramesh Lekh separately visited the accident site to gather details about the incident and provide necessary directives.

Oli said he was deeply saddened by the deaths and was at the site to inquire about the cause of the crash with the Civil Aviation Authority’s officials. The aircraft, manufactured by the Canadian company Bombardier in April 2003, was the sixth of its kind purchased for use in Nepal, according to information from planesspotters.com.

Following the accident, services at Kathmandu airport were halted briefly before being resumed, the airport authorities said. According to the company’s website, Saurya Airlines operates flights to five tourist destinations within Nepal, with a fleet of three Bombardier CRJ-200 jets.

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record in recent years but the reasons also include sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains, apart from human error.

According to Nepal’s civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air crashes in the country since the first disaster was recorded in August 1955.

In January last year, all 72 people on board, including five Indians, were killed when a Yeti Airlines aircraft crashed in the resort city of Pokhara. The crash was attributed to a human error. That was the 104th crash in Nepali skies and the third biggest in terms of casualties.

The only incidents in which more people were killed took place in July and September 1992. Those crashes involved aircraft of Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines and left 113 and 167 people dead, respectively.

According to Flight Radar 24 flight tracking, Saurya currently operates two CRJ-200 regional jets, a programme that was owned by Canada’s Bombardier but which was bought by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2020.

Saurya says it has another CRJ200 in its fleet, but it has not flown for a long time.

Bombardier referred questions about the incident to Canada-based MHI RJ Aviation Group (MHIRJ), which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Established in 2014, Saurya says on its website that it has introduced the “jet experience” on Nepal’s domestic routes and that it flies to five destinations.