Passengers safely evacuated from Turkish Airlines aircraft in Nepal

A Turkish Airlines plane was evacuated after smoke was observed from its landing gear while it was taxiing after landing in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, the airline said, forcing the closure of the airport for an hour.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had earlier said a fire broke out in the right rear tyre of the Airbus A330, which was doused before the plane was towed to the taxiway.

All 277 passengers and 11 crew on board were evacuated using the emergency exits, and nobody was injured, the aviation regulator and airline said.

"Technical inspections of the aircraft have been initiated by our teams. Initial assessments indicate that the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe," Yahya Ustun, the airline's senior vice president, communications, said on social media platform X.

An additional flight has been planned for the return of the passengers, he added.