KATHMANDU, JANUARY 16

A wide-body aircraft of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has been grounded after a technical problem was detected in it. With this, the passengers bound to Doha, Qatar have been stranded.

NAC spokesperson Ramesh Poudel said the flight had to be stopped as a problem occurred with the flight control sensor of the wide-body plane. Technical repair of the grounded aircraft is in progress now. He said the passengers bound to Doha on this flight will be send to the destination via an alternative flight this evening.

"The passengers of the Doha flight were stopped due to the technical problem in the aircraft last night. Preparations have been made to send the passengers to the destination by another flight at 7.45 pm today. The passengers have been asked to come to the airport at 4.0pm," he said.

Out of the NAC's four planes operating on international routes, a narrow-body plane has been dispatched to Israel for repairing. Flights are affected due to frequent technical glitches in the NAC planes.

NAC has two narrow-body and two wide-body aircraft for operating international flights. The 276 passengers bound to Doha from Kathmandu were kept in a hotel for the night.