KATHMANDU: A Turkish Airlines plane carrying 224 passengers had to be evacuated after it skidded off the runway on landing at Kathmandu airport on Wednesday and ended up on grassland.

Nepal aviation officials said no one on board was injured, although one witness described how terrified passengers leapt from their seats as the cabin filled with smoke after the plane skidded to a halt.

Airport spokesman Purna Prasad Chudal said the pilot overshot the runway during an initial attempt to land, before making a second try that sent the plane skidding off the tarmac.

“As the plane approached, it somehow missed the runway and ended up in the grassland area,” said the airport’s general manager Birendra Prasad Shrestha.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2015

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