At least 40 people have been killed after a plane carrying 72 people crashed in Pokhara in Nepal.
Reuters reported that there were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals.
Speaking to Reuters, Jagannath Niroula, a spokesman for Nepal civil aviation authority, confirmed that 40 people have died.
Army spokesman Krishna Bhandari told Reuters: “We expect to recover more bodies. The plane has broken into pieces.”
Al Jazeera reported that local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.
“Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire. All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers,” a local official Gurudutta Dhakal said.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the plane was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara, and urged security personnel and the general public to help with the rescue efforts.
The crash today is the deadliest in Nepal since 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside upon approach to Kathmandu.
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