Confusion ahead of deadly Nepal plane crash

The plane burst into flames upon landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board. Photo / AP

A plane crash at Nepal's main airport killed 49 of the 71 people on board, police said yesterday as an investigation was ordered into the cause of the accident.

It appeared there was confusion over landing instructions before the plane, flying low and erratically, struck the ground and erupted in flames.

In a recording posted by air traffic monitoring website liveatc.net, the pilot asked for permission to land from the north, which an air traffic controller granted.

Less than a minute later the pilot said he was ready to land from the south, and the controller repeated that, clearing the plane to land from the south.

A separate conversation between the tower and a Nepali pilot added to the sense of miscommunication between the controllers and the pilot of the Bangladeshi plane before the crash.

"Looks like they are really confused," one man says in Nepali talking about US-Bangla Flight BS211.

"They appear to be extremely disoriented," another man said.

Just before landing the pilot asks, "Are we cleared to land?"

Moments later, the controller comes back on, using a tone rarely heard in such conversations - perhaps even panic - and tells the pilot: "I say again, turn!"

Seconds later, the controller orders fire trucks on to the runway.

Kathmandu airport's general manager, however, only told reporters that the pilot did not follow the control tower's instructions and approached the airport's only runway from the wrong direction.The plane had circled Tribhuvan International Airport twice as it waited for clearance to land, Mohammed Selim, the airline's manager in Kathmandu, told Dhaka-based Somoy TV by telephone.

US-Bangla spokesman Kamrul Islam said the plane was carrying 32 passengers from Bangladesh, 33 from Nepal and one each from China and the Maldives.

He did not provide the nationalities of the four crewmembers.

- AP