Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu were evacuated on Monday after smoke was detected in the aircraft’s landing gear while taxiing, the airline said, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu.

The Airbus A330 aircraft, registered TC-JNP and operating as flight TK726, had landed normally at Tribhuvan International Airport before smoke was observed coming from the landing gear while the plane was taxiing, according to Turkish Airlines spokesperson Yahya Üstün.

The evacuation was carried out as a precautionary measure following instructions from airport tower authorities, Üstün said in a statement shared via US social media platform X.

“After our Airbus A330 aircraft operating the Istanbul-Kathmandu TK726 flight landed normally on the runway, smoke was observed in the landing gear while taxiing,” he said.

“In line with the instructions of tower teams, a passenger evacuation was carried out as a precaution by deploying the emergency slides. The evacuation process was completed successfully and no injuries were reported,” he added.

Üstün stated that technical inspections of the aircraft had been initiated by authorized teams.

“Initial examinations suggest the smoke was caused by a technical malfunction in a hydraulic pipe,” he said.

The airline also announced that an additional flight had been arranged for the return journey.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev