Sharjah24 - AFP: According to Yeti Airlines and a local official, an airplane with 72 people on board crashed in Nepal on Sunday, marking the latest aviation catastrophe to strike the Himalayan country.
"There are 68 passengers on board and four crew members... Rescue is underway, we don't know right now if there are survivors," the airline's spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula said .
He said the plane, which took off in Kathmandu for Pokhara, crashed between the central Nepali city's domestic airport and the international one that opened on January 1.
After the crash, rescue workers were hosing down the wreckage of the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop while smoke drifted out of a ravine as hundreds of people watched.
The area was strewn with what appeared to be parts of the aircraft, including seats.
"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," said local official Gurudutta Dhakal.
Footage shared on social media, which appeared to be shot just after the crash, showed raging flames on the ground and black smoke billowing into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.
Another unverified clip shared online showed a plane flying at a low altitude over a residential area banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion.
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