 Crowds gather at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal, January 15, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS) |
Hundreds of rescue workers were scouring the hillside where the Yeti Airlines flight, carrying 72 people from the capital Kathmandu, went down. The weather was clear, said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority.
The craft made contact with the airport from Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m., the aviation authority said in a statement. "Then it crashed."
Those on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft included two infants and four crew members, said airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula. There were five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian national onboard. The plane was 15 years old, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency cabinet meeting after the plane crash.
The crash is Nepal's deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.
At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal - home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Everest - where the weather can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions.