At least 68 dead after plane carrying 72 people crashes in Nepal

15 January 2023, 08:28 | Updated: 15 January 2023, 12:10

At least 40 people have died after a plane carrying 72 passengers crashed in Nepal.

Rescuers were scouring the crash site near Pokhara International Airport on Sunday and expected to find more bodies, said Tek Bahadur KC, a senior administrative officer in Kaski district.

Footage shared online showed the aircraft flying low ahead of the crash before beginning to spin.

The plane was carrying 68 passengers - including two infants - and four crew members, a spokesman for Yeti Airlines said.

Five of the passengers were Indian, four Russian and two South Korean. There was one passenger each from Ireland, Australia, France and Argentina.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency cabinet meeting following the incident and asked security personnel and locals to help with rescue efforts.

He said the plane had been flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara.

Read more: Girl, 7, fights for life and five others taken to hospital after drive-by shooting outside funeral

Read more: Several luxury cars seized from Andrew Tate's property in Bucharest by Romanian authorities

Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.

Nepalese soldiers were also involved in the rescue efforts.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

It comes after 22 people died when a plane crashed on a mountainside in Nepal last year.

In 2018, a US-Bangla passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board.