Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft crash has resulted in the death of 18 from the 19 people onboard. The plane, headed towards Pokhara, crashed shortly after takeoff at 11:11 AM, and caught fire.

According to SSP Dinesh Raj Mainali, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police Office in Ranipokhari, the plane was carrying airline staff, including engineers, as it was a test flight. Among the 19 occupants, Captain Manish Ratna Shakya (37) is the sole survivor and is currently receiving treatment at KMC Hospital.

Airlines Technical Staff Amitman Maharjan, Sagar Acharya, Dilip Verma, Manuraj Sharma, Aswin Niraula, Sudipalal Joshi, Sarvesh Marasaini, Shyam Bindukar, Navraj Ale, Rajaram Acharya, Uddhav Puri, Yagyaprasad Paudel, Santosh Mahato, Punyaratna Shahi, a Yemeni citizen Aref Reda and co-captain Sushant Katwal died in the crash.

Preeja Khatiwada and Adhiraj Sharma wife and son of technician Manuraj Sharma also died in the crash. Preeja was working as a computer operator in the Ministry of Energy.

Authorities have confirmed that the postmortem of the 18 deceased will begin today at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. The autopsy process will commence once the relatives of the victims and representatives from Saurya Airlines are present. Fingerprint and DNA teams have been alerted to assist with the identification, and the bodies are expected to be released to the families three days after the autopsies.

The aircraft, built in April 2003 by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier, had a seating capacity of 50 and was 21 years and 4 months old.

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