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At least 68 people have died after a 72-seat passenger plane crashed in Pokhara, a resort town in central Nepal, authorities have confirmed. It is the country’s deadliest plane crash in three decades.
The Nepali passenger plane crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport.
At the crash site, rescuers used ropes to pull bodies from the wreckage, parts of which hung over the edge of the gorge. Some bodies, burned beyond recognition, were taken by firefighters to hospitals where heartbroken relatives had gathered.
It is not yet clear what caused the plane to crash.
A witness to the crash said he saw the plane spin violently in the air after trying to land, watching from the terrace of his house. Gaurav Gurung said the aircraft went nose-first to the left and then crashed into the gorge.
“The plane caught fire after the crash. There was smoke everywhere,” Gurung said.
Aviation authorities said the plane last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10.50am before it crashed.
Locals look at the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara, Nepal. Credit: AP
Nepal Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Jagannath Nirula said the weather was clear.
The plane was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The foreigners include five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
A spokesman said the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs was aware of reports that an Irish national was among the passengers on board.
“The Foreign Office is aware of reports of an Irish national being involved in a plane crash in Nepal and stands ready to provide consular assistance if requested,” it said.
Video shows smoke rising from the crash site
The resort town of Pokhara is 125 miles west of the capital Kathmandu – and is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the plane was flying from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara in central Nepal and appealed to security officials and the general public to help with rescue efforts.
Relatives of a crashed passenger plane at Kathmandu airport. Credit: AP
Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage.
Plane crashes in Nepal are not uncommon – last year 22 people died when a plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal.
The crash is the deadliest in Nepal since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Airlines passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 49 of the 71 people on board.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. According to the aviation safety database of the Flight Safety Foundation, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.
In 1992, all 167 people 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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