Night in plane for Nepal fliers

TT, Airport: More than 200 Kathmandu-bound passengers spent Thursday night on board two aircraft at Calcutta airport after their flights were diverted to the city because of an accident at the Nepal airport.

A Malaysian airline's flight to Kuala Lumpur, with 139 people on board, skidded off the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

The Malindo Air pilot had aborted take-off after a technical problem was detected. The Kathmandu airport remained shut for 12 hours.

Three Kathmandu-bound flights were diverted to Calcutta on Thursday night. The first - an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi carrying 111 passengers - landed in the city at 9.15pm. The passengers were issued special permission and allowed to check into hotels in the city.

The passengers of the two other flights were not as lucky, said airport officials. It was not possible to issue temporary visas to all passengers as the three flights arrived in quick succession, airport sources said.

At 11.15pm, an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah arrived and the passengers had to spend the night on the aircraft till it was flown to Dhaka at 5am, airport officials said.

A China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Kathmandu, arrived at 11.30 pm with 108 passengers on board. The fliers were also not allowed to disembark.

"All passengers remained in the aircraft till it took off for Kathmandu around 11.30am on Friday," said an airport official. The Nepal airport became operational around 11am, said an official.