Turkish Airlines jet catches fire while landing at Nepal's main airport

Kathmandu, Nepal: Hundreds of passengers and crew aboard a Turkish Airlines flight to Nepal were safely evacuated on Monday after the plane's landing gear caught fire while arriving at Kathmandu airport, officials said.

The right landing gear of the jet, carrying 277 passengers and 11 crew from Istanbul, caught fire during landing, according to Gyanendra Bhul, a spokesman at Nepal's civil aviation authority.

"Fire was visible during the landing. Investigations are ongoing. All passengers are safe," Bhul told AFP.

Bhul said the incident caused the closure of the airport's only runway for almost two hours in the morning but it has since been reopened.

Turkish Airlines said passengers were evacuated via emergency slides after "smoke was observed coming from the landing gear during taxi".

"A technical inspection of our aircraft has been initiated by our authorized teams," Yahya Ustun, a spokesman for Turkish Airlines, said in a post on social media.

"Initial examinations indicate that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe."

“Following the normal landing of our Airbus A330 aircraft registered TC-JNP operating TK726 flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu, smoke was observed from the landing gear while taxiing. In line with the instructions of the ATC, passengers were evacuated precautionarily via slides. The evacuation process was completed successfully and no injuries were reported. An additional flight has been planned for the return, while technical inspections of the aircraft have been initiated by our teams. Initial assessments indicate that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe,” said SVP media relations Yahya Üstün.

The Himalayan nation is home to some of the world's most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks and terrain that poses a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

A string of crashes as well as the European Union's decision to blacklist all Nepalese airlines prompted government officials last year to announce plans to install new radar and weather monitoring systems.

In 2015, a Turkish Airlines aircraft with 224 passengers skidded off the Kathmandu runway.

The passengers were unhurt but the accident led to a runway closure for four days and saw scores of international flights cancelled.