Deadly Passenger Plane Crash at Kathmandu Airport

Nepali rescue workers gather around the debris of an airplane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on March 12, 2018. Prakash MATHEMA / AFP
Nepali rescue workers gather around the debris of an airplane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on March 12, 2018. Prakash MATHEMA / AFP
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Deadly Passenger Plane Crash at Kathmandu Airport

Nepali rescue workers gather around the debris of an airplane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on March 12, 2018. Prakash MATHEMA / AFP
Nepali rescue workers gather around the debris of an airplane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on March 12, 2018. Prakash MATHEMA / AFP

An airliner carrying 71 people from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, killing dozens of people with others rushed to area hospitals, officials said.

The death toll remained unclear amid the chaos of the crash and the rush of badly injured victims to nearby hospitals.

Brig. Gen. Gokul Bhandari, the Nepal army spokesman, said 50 people had died and the fate of the others was unknown. But a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said at least 38 people had died, 23 had been injured and 10 were unaccounted for.

An AP journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the crash saw the US-Bangla Airlines twin-propeller plane broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers clustered around the wreckage in a football field near the runway.

Hundreds of people stood on a nearby hill, staring down at what remained of the Canadian-made Bombardier Dash 8.

The plane had circled the airport twice as it waited for clearance to land, Mohammed Selim, the airline's manager in Kathmandu, told Dhaka-based Somoy TV station by telephone.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but a statement from airport authorities said the plane was "out of control" as it came in to land.

US-Bangla Airlines operates Boeing 737-800 and smaller Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 planes.



Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2025. (AFP)

President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran's atomic facilities.

"I think they're tapping us along," Trump told reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official.

Both Iran and the United States said on Saturday that they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.

The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like.

"Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.

Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities, Trump said: "Of course it does."

Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because "they're fairly close" to developing a nuclear weapon.

The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden's term, but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.