Kathmandu: Plane skids off runway, flights disrupted

An aircraft of Nepal's private carrier, Yeti Airlines, skidded off the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Friday morning.

All passengers and crew members on the flight were safe, the airline informed.

The domestic flight with a call sign 9N-AMM was flying from western city Nepalgunj when it veered off the runway while landing.

"We regret to inform you that Yeti Airlines Flight Number NYT-422 (9N-AMM) was involved in a runway excursion incident at Kathmandu Airport at 11:05 am today. All 66 passengers (64 adults and 2 infants) and 3 Flight Crew members onboard are safe and have been evacuated," the airline said in a notice on Twitter.

The landlocked country's sole international airport remained closed following the incident.

Outgoing flights were halted, while the inbound planes were transferred to other countries, reported Xinhua.

The incident happened as several parts of the Himalayan nation has been receiving heavy rainfall since Friday morning.

Runway excursions are not uncommon at the airport's single 3-km-long runway, which has been undergoing an upgrade plan.

A US-Bangla Airlines Flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu, crashed in March last year, killing 51 of the 71 people aboard.