Yeti Air ATR 72 skidded off runway
Yeti Air ATR 72 skidded off runway

Yeti Air ATR 72 Skidded off Runway; Kathmandu Int’l Closed

Nepal's only international airport, Kathmandu Tribhuvan Airport, was temporarily shut down after a Yeti Air ATR 72-500 domestic flight with 66 passengers on board skidded off the runway while landing, injuring two passengers, officials said.

a group of people standing in front of an airplane
a plane in a field
a plane on the grass

The incident happened at 11.05 when the Yeti airline's flight NYT-422 (Reg: 9N-AMM) from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu skidded off the recently repaired runway at the Tribhuvan International Airport, after it became slippery due to the continuous downpour since morning.

"The aircraft skidded 20 metres off the runway and landed at nearby grassland," a senior official said.

According to the airport authorities, the work to remove the ATR 72-500 from the runway was underway and the airport is shut until 17:00.

a group of people standing next to a plane

During the incident two of the passengers sustained minor injuries, the official said.

All the incoming flights were transferred to other countries while the outgoing flights were halted.

The incident happened as Nepal has been witnessing heavy rainfall since early Friday morning. Runway excursions are common in the airport's single 3-km-long runway. Since April, the airport has been undergoing a runway upgrade program.

In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines aircraft crashed and burst into flames while landing at the Kathmandu, killing more than 50 people.