Plane tyre catches fire during landing in Nepal's Kathmandu: VIDEO shows scary moment

A Turkish Airlines flight, arriving from Istanbul, experienced an emergency when its landing gear wheel caught fire upon touchdown in Nepal's Kathmandu. According to an ANI report, citing the police, the fire was doused immediately, and all passengers have been evacuated. Video on social media shows passengers being evacuated at Tribhuvan International Airport. As per the official, there were a total of 278 passengers and 11 crew members on the flight. The passengers also included some United Nations officials. While the reason behind the incident is not known yet, there has been no official statement by the airport or the airline company.

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“The Turkish Airlines TK 726 was en route to Kathmandu from Istanbul and the tyre had caught fire while landing,” SP Rajkumar Silawal from the Airport security told ANI. “Using the fire engine, it has been contained. All the passengers are safely evacuated.”

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ANI reported that in the year 2015, an aircraft of the company had skidded off the runway and veered onto the grassy shoulder after losing balance during landing. This had forced the airport to remain shut for four days. Initial reports at the time suggested that a loss of situation awareness of the flight captain during the final approach resulted in the Airbus A330 missing the runway's centre line. The flight with the same call-sign TK726 from Istanbul was carrying 224 people when it ploughed into the grassland on the left side of the runway at Kathmandu's fog-covered airport. No passengers were hurt during the incident, but all the passengers were evacuated through the emergency doors.