On 11 May 2026, a Turkish Airlines Airbus A330 was evacuated on the runway in Kathmandu, Nepal after smoke and flames were seen coming from the aircraft’s right landing gear during landing. Flight TK726 from Istanbul had just touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday morning when a tyre on the right rear landing gear reportedly burst and caught fire while the aircraft was taxiing. Cabin crew initiated an emergency evacuation using inflatable slides as airport firefighters rushed to the scene.
All 277 passengers and 11 crew members safely evacuated the Airbus A330-300, registration TC-JNP, with no injuries reported.
Airport authorities temporarily suspended operations for around one to two hours while emergency crews extinguished the fire and removed the aircraft from the runway. Several inbound flights were delayed or placed in holding patterns during the closure.
Initial reports from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority pointed to a fire in the right rear tyre area, while Turkish Airlines later stated that early technical assessments suggest the smoke may have been caused by a malfunction in a hydraulic pipe near the landing gear system.
The aircraft has been grounded pending a full technical inspection and investigation.