DHAKA: Mentioning its fatal plane crash in Nepal on March 12, the US-Bangla Airlines authority has questioned the probe report by Nepal Aviation and some of instructions given from air traffic control tower immediately before the accident occurred.

The Airlines made the claim at a press conference in city’s Sonargaon hotel on Sunday (April 22).

US-Bangla authority said, “The international law prohibits permitting a flight to land or take off without canceling the landing clearance granted to another flight first. Moreover, the number of casualties would have been less if rescuers reached the spot within two minutes into the incident.”

US-Bangla Airlines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Imran Asif said the Nepal Aviation authority has published an initial probe report a month after the crash. According to the report, rescuers and fire fighters rushed to the spot within two minutes but the eye witnesses are claiming otherwise. Casualties would have been far less if the rescue action was faster.

“It has been reported already that the air traffic control tower provided misleading instructions to the pilot before the crash. The tower first gave clearance to US-Bangla aircraft pilots and then gave clearance to another flight for landing without canceling the earlier landing clearance which is a violation of the international aviation law”, the CEO added.

BDST: 1806 HRS, APR 22, 2018
AP/SMS