A passenger plane carrying 72 people crashes while landing in a resort in Nepal
Police in Nepal confirmed that 67 people were killed when a plane carrying 72 people on board crashed on Sunday.
"31 bodies have been taken to hospitals," police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies had been found at the crash site.
The Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that the twin-engine ATR-72, operated by Nepal Airlines, was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreigners, and four crew members.
Among the foreigners were five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
The aviation authority said the plane last contacted the airport near City Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before it crashed.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the site after the accident, said the plane was on its way from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, and urged security personnel and the public to help in the rescue efforts.
The tourist town of Pokhara, 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular trekking trail in the Himalayas.
Pokhara International Airport started operations only two weeks ago.
Pictures and video clips posted on Twitter showed plumes of smoke rising from the crash site, while rescue personnel, the army and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the plane.
According to the plane's tracking data from the Flightradar24 website, the plane was 15 years old and "equipped with an old transceiver with unreliable data."
Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday called for an urgent ministerial meeting after the plane crash.
All flights from Pokhara International Airport were suspended today, after the plane crash.
Nepal News quoted Teknath Sitaula, a spokesman for Tribhuvan International Airport, as saying that all flights from Pokhara have been suspended.
Sunday's accident is the deadliest in Nepal since March 2018, when an American Bangladesh Airlines passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed upon landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board.
Last year, 22 people were killed when a plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal.
In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu crashed after take-off, killing all 23 on board.
In 2012, an Agni Air flight from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed, killing 15 people, while 6 people survived.
In 2014, a Nepal Airlines flight from Pokhara to Jumla crashed, killing all 18 people on board.
In 1992, all 167 passengers on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it crashed into a hill while trying to land in Kathmandu.
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