State-owned Nepal Television reported that the Fly Dubai plane that took off from Kathmandu airport on Monday with over 160 people on board landed safely in Dubai on Tuesday morning. According to airport sources, soon after take-off from the Tribhuvan International Airport at 9.20 am on Monday, an engine failure was reported in the aircraft. It hovered above the sky in Dharke for some time.
The pilots later told the control tower that they would continue flying once all indicators were normal. “The flydubai flight has landed safely in Dubai,” state-run Nepal Television reported on Tuesday.
Sudan Kirati, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, shared on his Facebook account that the FlyDubai plane was flying safely to its destination and urged everyone not to worry about it.
“Fly Dubai flight number 576 (Boeing 737-800) flight from Kathmandu to Dubai is now normal and is proceeding to its destination Dubai as per flight plan,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a tweet on Monday.
There are over 160 people on board the aircraft including 50 Nepali passengers. Eyewitnesses had earlier claimed to have seen the plane catching fire in the skies over Kathmandu. According to sources, fire tenders have also been put on alert at the Kathmandu airport.