At least 68 killed after domestic flight crash-lands and catches fire in Nepal

The Yeti Airlines domestic flight, which had 72 people on board, was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara when the incident occurred

Rescue teams work to retrieve bodies at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal January 15, 2023. Bijay Neupane/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

Rescue teams are working to retrieve bodies at the crash site in Pokhara in western Nepal (Photo: Bijay Neupane via Reuters)

January 15, 2023 8:51 am(Updated 5:02 pm)

At least 68 people have been killed after a plane they were travelling on crashed and caught fire in Nepal.

The Yeti Airlines domestic flight, which had 72 people on board, was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara when the incident occurred.

Passengers on board the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft included two infants and four crew members, airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said.

Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the site near a newly opened airport in the central resort town of Pokhara, officials said. More casualties are expected to be confirmed.

“Thirty-one [bodies] have been taken to hospitals,” police officials told the AFP news agency, adding that 36 other bodies were found in the gorge where the aircraft crashed.

A general view of people gathered after the plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal January 15, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Naresh Giri/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. — People gathered at the site of the crash (Photo: Naresh Giri via Reuters)

A spokesman for Nepal’s civil aviation authority, Jagannath Niroula, initially said “rescue operations are on” and the “weather was clear”.

But late in the evening local time the search was called off by officials. It is expected to resume Monday.

A Nepal airport official said five Indian nationals and four Russians were on the flight, along with one Irish national, two South Koreans, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian. Around 50 passengers are reported to be Nepali.

Rescuers gather at the site of a plane crash in Pokhara on January 15, 2023. - At least 67 people were confirmed dead on January 15 when a plane with 72 on board crashed in Nepal, police said, in the Himalayan country's deadliest aviation disaster in three decades. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP) (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images) — Rescuers at the site of a plane crash in Pokhara (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)

Details of the passengers, including their names and nationalities, have been shared on Twitter by Nepal’s civil aviation authority.

The country’s Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, urged security personnel and the general public to help with the rescue efforts.

Footage from the site of the crash showed black smoke billowing from the site of the plane crash as rescue workers and crowds of people surrounded the wreckage.

POKHARA, NEPAL - JANUARY 15 : A screen grab taken from a video shows a view of Pokhara airport, where Yeti Airlines plane carrying more than 70 people crashes in Pokhara, Nepal January 15, 2023. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) — Rescuers and volunteers at the site of the plane crash (Photo: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty)

The cause of the crash has not been confirmed.

The Nepali government has set up a panel to investigate the cause of the crash, its finance minister said.

A national day of mourning has been announced for Monday 16 January.

Yeti Airlines has cancelled all its regular flights for Monday in “mourning for the passengers who lost their lives.” Only emergency and rescue flights will operate, it said.

The plane crash is Nepal’s worst in 30 years.

All 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 died when it crashed into a hillside upon approach to Kathmandu in 1992.

In March 2018, 51 people were killed when a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka carrying 71 people crashed in Kathmandu.

This story is being updated