By Siraj Khan
Nepalgunj, Nov. 9: Animals threaten the safety of planes at the Nepalgunj Airport which is the main airfield connecting the federal capital with the three provinces of western Nepal.
In absence of a perimeter wall and thick bushes around the runway, animals like boars, rabbits, porcupines and jackals come from the surrounding forests and collide with planes taking off or landing at the airport.

Last year, a boar collided with the back wheel of a plane belonging to Buddha Air. In another incident, another boar struck a Yeti Air plane when it was on the runway.
Similarly, last week, the Buddha Air flight ATR-72 hit a porcupine while it was approaching the airport’s parking space. Also last week, three boars collided with the Sita Air flight 9H-AHB flying from Nepalgunj to Simkot.

After the latest incident involving Sita Air, on the initiative of the chiefs of the security agencies stationed in the district, work began to clear the grass and bushes surrounding the airport runway. But much scrub remains to be cleared. Also, the net wall erected around the airport has many holes in it.

Dilip Karki, Nepalgunj chief of Yeti Airlines, said that the animals posed a high risk to the aircrafts and airlines needed to be very careful when landing at or taking off from the airport.
Meanwhile, Subash Jha, head of the Nepalgunj office of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said that the body was preparing to clear all the unwanted shrubbery and place security nets around the airport.

There are human settlements to the north of the airport and community forests to the east and the south. Wild animals and cattle can regularly be seen roaming around the airport.