US-Bangla plane crashes at Kathmandu airport [Photos + Videos]

Photos and videos that surfaced on social media show smoke emanating from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, where the US Bangla passenger plane, a Bangladeshi airline, crashed.

The plane reportedly carrying passengers crashed Monday afternoon on the airport's runway resulting in a fire. The firefighters have been tackling the situation. TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur said that 78-seater Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft veered off the runway while landing.

After the fire was put out, rescuers pulled out the dead bodies from the charred wreckage. According to Reuters, eight bodies have been recovered so far. But AFP reported that at least 27 have been killed in the crash. 

"We just pulled out dead bodies and injured from the debris," government spokesman Narayan Prasad Duwadi told AFP.

The plane landed at the airport at around 14:20 local time (08:35 GMT). About 67 passengers and four crew members were on board when the plane crashed, officials told BBC.

All the flights in and out of the airport are canceled and the airport has been closed. Rescue operations are underway and until now 17 passengers have been rescued and taken to the hospital for treatment, Tourism Ministry Joint Secretary Suresh Acharya said.

Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) Sanjiv Gautam said that they are yet to ascertain the reason behind the landing. The plane was expected to land from the Southern side but it lost control. He also said that the plane might have had some technical problem.

"The aircraft was permitted to land from the Southern side of the runway flying over Koteshwor but it landed from the Northern side," Kathmandu post quoted Gautam as saying.

"We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the unusual landing," he added.