Flydubai aircraft heads for destination after engine fire extinguished, Nepal denied the story

A Flydubai flight from Katmandu to Dubai experienced a bird strike during takeoff but is now heading to the United Arab Emirates, the company said on Monday.

Jagannath Niroula, spokesperson for Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement to Reuters an engine caught fire on the Flydubai Boeing 737-800 plane with 167 passengers on board, shortly after takeoff from Katmandu and the fire had been brought under control.

“Flydubai flight number 576, (Boeing 737-800) Katmandu to Dubai flight is normal now and proceeding to her destination Dubai as per the flight plan,” the civil aviation authority said in a tweet.The Flydubai spokesperson told Reuters the plane was scheduled to land in Dubai at 00:14 local time.

Nepal's civil aviation authority disputed on Tuesday whether a flydubai plane had been hit by a bird strike in Nepali airspace, calling the United Arab Emirates carrier's account of the incident "misleading".

The airline had said a flight carrying 167 passengers from the Nepali capital Kathmandu to Dubai experienced a bird strike during take-off late on Monday.

The plane continued on its journey after determining that the engine was within normal operation parameters, a spokesperson for flydubai said, and the aircraft landed normally in Dubai just after midnight local time.

But the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said on Twitter on Tuesday that the airline's country manager and airport manager had been barred from entering Kathmandu airport for spreading "misleading" news about a bird strike.

Flydubai said it would respond shortly to a request for comment on the tweet. The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"How did the company say it was a case of bird strike. The pilot has not reported that and there is no evidence of it so far. There is no proof or basis for this," Jagannath Niroula, a CAAN spokesperson, said.

Niroula said one of the plane's engines had caught fire shortly after take-off from Kathmandu, and the CAAN had set up a technical committee to investigate.

Mountainous Nepal has a history of deadly air crashes and suffered its worst plane crash in 30 years in January this year, killing all 72 people aboard an ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines.