World

Kathmandu airport closed after jet skids off runway

Published April 20, 2018 Updated April 20, 2018 08:25am

Nobody was hurt in the incident but incoming flights to the Nepali capital were diverted while authorities tried to move the Malindo Airlines Boeing 737, which was stuck in mud.

It was not known how long Tribhuvan Airport, Nepal's sole international air gateway, would be closed.

The flight by the Malaysian carrier to Kuala Lumpur was accelerating on the runway late Thursday when the pilots detected a problem and halted the takeoff, airport spokesman Prem Nath Thakur said.

The jet skidded to a halt on grassland and came to a stop in mud about 100 feet (30 metres) from the runway.

"All aboard are safe," Thakur said, adding that the cause of the problem was not immediately known.

The incident came one month after the crash of a US-Bangla Airways plane at Kathmandu airport, which killed 51 people.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2018