Officials say at least 40 bodies have been recovered after a plane carrying 72 people crashed near an airport in central Nepal.
The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to the tourist town of Pokhara crashed and caught fire on landing.
Social media videos show an aircraft flying low over a populated area before spinning sharply.
On board were 68 passengers, including at least 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members.
Hundreds of Nepalese soldiers are involved in the operation at the crash site in the Seti River gorge, just 1.5 kilometers from the airport.
A video shot near the crash site shows thick billowing black smoke and burning debris.
“We expect to recover more bodies,” an army spokesman told Reuters, saying the plane “has broken into pieces“.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal convened an emergency cabinet meeting and directed state agencies to work on rescue efforts.
According to reports, 53 of the passengers are Nepalese. The plane carried five Indians, four Russians, and two Koreans. There were also passengers from Ireland, Australia, Argentina, and France, among other countries.
Aviation accidents are not uncommon in Nepal, owing to the country’s remote runways and unpredictable weather patterns.
In May 2022, a Tara Air plane crashed in the northern Nepalese district of Mustang, killing 22 people.
In early 2018, a US-Bangla flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh, caught fire as it landed in Kathmandu, killing 51 people.