Eighteen people were killed when a regional passenger plane belonging to Nepal's Saurya Airlines crashed and caught fire while taking off from the capital Kathmandu on Wednesday, officials said.
The plane, carrying two crew members and 17 technicians, was destined for a regular maintenance assignment to Nepal's new Pokhara airport, which opened in January and is equipped with aircraft maintenance hangars.
Pokhara is an important tourist destination for Western travelers bent on trekking up the popular Annapurna mountain range.
"Shortly after takeoff ... the aircraft veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.
Eighteen of those on board were Nepali citizens, while one engineer was from Yemen, Saurya said.
"Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital," said Tej Bahadur Poudyal, the spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.