Around 50 killed in Bangladesh plane crash at Kathmandu airport

Bangladeshi airliner with 71 people on board crashed on Monday while coming in to land at the airport in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, killing at least 50 people, an army spokesman told Reuters.

The plane caught fire after it careened off the runway during landing and crashed onto a football ground near the airport, the Tribhuvan International Airport spokesperson, Prem Nath Thakur, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football ground where the plane crashed.

Earlier, Nepal Tourism Ministry Joint Secretary Suresh Acharya said at least 17 people on board had been rescued.

"The plane shoot off the runway while it was about to crash into the hanger and immediately caught fire," an airport official was quoted as saying by the Himalayan Times.

#WATCH: A plane has crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. More details awaited. (Source:Unverified) pic.twitter.com/lpsWrvFjZd

— ANI (@ANI) March 12, 2018

The officials, however, have suspected technical glitch as the cause of the incident.

The aircraft took off from Dhaka and landed at the airport at 2:20 pm (local time).

The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, was reported to be on fire. Authorities say the fire has now been extinguished and rescue work is on.

All the flights to and from TIA have been halted after the crash. 

(With PTI, ANI and Reuters inputs)