A Horrible Disaster: At Leat 40 People Killed In a Flight Crash in Nepal

At least 40 people were killed today when a domestic flight crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the central resort town of Pokhara, a Nepal aviation authority official said.

Harrowing footage showed the plane moments before the disaster - which is the small Himalayan country's worst crash in nearly five years.

Hundreds of rescue workers continued to scour the hillside site where the plane of domestic carrier Yeti Airlines, flying from the capital Kathmandu, went down.

'Rescue operations are on,' said Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal civil aviation authority. 'Weather was clear.'

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.

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.

In May 2022, all 22 people died on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air - including 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans - when it crashed o a slope.

There were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti in today's disaster, including two infants and four crew members, said airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula.

The plane had five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one Australian, one French and one Argentinian national onboard, a Nepal airport official said.