VT, Kathmandu | A Turkish Airlines Airbus A330 arriving from Istanbul was evacuated at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday after smoke was reported from the aircraft’s landing gear area while it was taxiing after landing, airport authorities said.
All 277 passengers and 11 crew members were evacuated through emergency exits. No injuries were reported, Nepal’s civil aviation authority and the airline said.
Gyanendra Bhul, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told reporters that a fire broke out in the aircraft’s right rear tire. The fire was extinguished, and the aircraft was later moved from the runway area.
Turkish Airlines said the plane had landed normally before smoke was observed from the landing gear during taxiing. The airline said technical inspections had begun after the incident.
Yahya Ustun, Turkish Airlines’ senior vice president for communications, said on X that early assessments indicated the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe.
Nepal’s main airport, Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu later resumed operations after about one and a half hours, the airport said. The airport had been closed after a Turkish Airlines aircraft’s wheel caught fire.
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