Nepal forms probe panel for Monday's deadly airplane crash

KATHMANDU - The Nepalese government on Tuesday formed a probe panel to investigate the cause of Monday's deadly Bangladeshi airliner crash at the Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport.

The panel, formed under the leadership of Former Secretary of the Nepali government Yagya Prasad Gautam, will initiate the investigation as early as possible, Environment Minister Lal Babu Pandit told media here on Tuesday.

Forty nine people were killed and 22 injured on Monday afternoon after a passenger plane of the US-Bangla Airlines crashed in course of landing at TIA, the only international airport of Nepal.

The deadliest crash took place due to the pilot's "missed approach," the authorities said.

The UBG211 flight was en route to Kathmandu from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The aircraft, with 71 people onboard including four crew members, caught fire when it narrowly escaped from hitting the tail of a Thai Airways plane parked at the airport.

The ill-fated plane was said to have circled the airport twice before trying landing.

Of the total passengers onboard, 33 were from Nepal, 32 from Bangladesh, one from China and one from the Maldives, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The injured in the incident are receiving treatment in different hospitals in Kathmandu.