According to AFP, at least 67 people died this morning in Nepal after a plane carrying 72 people crashed in Pokhara. There were 68 passengers and four crew members on board the plane that crashed between the old and new airports in the city, located in western Nepal. Yeti Airlines' twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was on its way from Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.

On board were 15 foreign nationals, including six children. 53 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentinian, and one each from Ireland, Australia, and France were on board.

Thirty-one bodies have been taken to hospitals, police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that another 36 bodies were found in the gorge where the plane crashed.

A raging fire at the wreckage has made rescue operations difficult, Nepali journalist Dilip Thapa told NDTV. Following the crash, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' called an emergency cabinet meeting, and the Nepal government has appointed a five-member investigation committee.

The aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 a.m., according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).nThe plane was close to landing at the Pokhara airport, when it crashed into a river gorge on the bank of the Seti River. The crash happened around 20 minutes after the take-off, suggesting the aircraft might have been on the descent. It takes 25 minutes to fly between the two cities.

The airline's spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said they do not know if there are survivors. The plane caught fire during the crash, and rescue workers were trying to put it out.

The Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed condolences for the loss of lives in the plane crash. It is extremely unfortunate that so many lives have been lost in a tragic plane crash in Nepal. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased. Om Shanti," he wrote on Twitter.

Nepal's airline business has been plagued by safety concerns, as well as inadequate staff training. After the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) flagged safety concerns, the European Union has placed Nepal on its flight safety blacklist since 2013, banning all flights from the Himalayan country.

AFP reports that hundreds have died in horrific plane crashes in Nepal. A plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air crashed in May 2022, killing all 22 people aboard -- 16 Nepalis, four Indians, and two Germans.

51 people were killed when a US-Bangla Airlines plane crash-landed near Kathmandu's international airport in March 2018.

All 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu in 1992.

Two months earlier, 113 people had been killed in a Thai Airways plane crash near the same airport.

(This news is originally sourced from NDTV and is edited to remove plagiarism. Images are also sourced from the internet and are edited. No violation of copyright is intended.)

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