August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday).     .    

Nepalgunj-based Station Chief of Shree Airlines, Parshuram Chaudhary, told the state-owned RSS that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ANF 432 that took off for Kathmandu from Nepalgunj made an emergency landing within six minutes of take-off after smoke started to appear inside the aircraft.    

A total of 79 passengers were in the aircraft and all of them are safe, added Chaudhary.

He further said that a team of engineers from Kathmandu will arrive in Nepalgunj to find out the reason behind the problem, RSS reported.

A similar incident occurred last week at Pokhara Airport.

An aircraft of Yeti Airlines that took off from Pokhara to Kathmandu on Friday morning made a safe landing back in Pokhara six minutes later following a technical problem.

According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the aircraft returned back to Pokhara after its engine malfunctioned.

Nepal has a poor record of aviation safety despite making some improvement as per the ICAO report.

The last time Nepal witnessed a fatal air crash was on May 29 when a Twin Otter carrying nineteen passengers and three crew members crashed in Manapathi hill of Mustang district killing all people on board.

According to media reports, the aircraft with call sign 9N-AET had been in operation since the last 43 years.

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