On Wednesday (4th February), a Turkish Airlines passenger aircraft made an emergency landing in Kolkata after its right engine caught fire. This came just minutes after takeoff from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal’s Kathmandu. The plane had 236 people aboard, including 11 crew members.
Teknath Sitaula, general manager of Tribhuvan International Airport, said, “The Turkish Airlines with flight number ‘THY-727’ caught fire within four minutes of the take-off, the right engine caught fire. The flight took off at 1:28 PM (Local Time).”
The pilots diverted the Airbus A330-303 aircraft west of Kathmandu. They shut down the right engine, holding the aircraft airborne for about 10 minutes. The Tribhuvan International Airport was shut down for about 15 minutes during this time.
Turkish Airlines operated Kathmandu–Istanbul flight makes a full emergency landing at Kolkata airport.
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) February 4, 2026
Captain alerted Kolkata ATC to a possible fire in the right engine.
Aircraft landed safely at 14:49 hrs with 236 passengers on board.
Flight is on the ground.
Safety inspection… pic.twitter.com/dZR0PRCZJo
Meanwhile, the pilots informed the Kolkata ATC in India’s West Bengal about a possible fire in the right engine of the Turkish Airlines aircraft en route to Istanbul and said that they wanted to land the plane there. The plane safely landed at 2:49 pm. All 225 passengers and 11 crew members were unharmed.
At Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, a full emergency was declared ahead of the Turkish Airlines aircraft’s landing. At present, the plane is at Kolkata Airport, and a probe is being conducted.
The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry issued a statement on the incident and said, “The flight declared PAN PAN, an international radio distress signal, due to right engine on fire and requested to divert to Kolkata at 1.38 pm with one engine failure.”
