Hopes of finding survivors from Nepal’s worst air disaster in decades are fading, police say.
“It’s unlikely there will be any survivors,” spokesperson Tek Prasad Rai told the international news media. Teams were finding body parts at the scene, he added.
At least 68 people died when a flight from Kathmandu to the tourist town of Pokhara crashed and caught fire on Sunday morning.
It is still unclear what caused the crash.
Mobile phone footage showed the Yeti Airlines flight rolling sharply as it approached the airport. There were 72 passengers and crew on board the domestic flight.
A search and rescue operation that involved hundreds of Nepalese soldiers was suspended due to darkness on Sunday. It resumed on Monday morning, with 300 police personnel deployed.
Earlier, local TV reports showed rescuers scrambling around charred sections of the aircraft which hit the ground in the gorge of the Seti River, just over a kilometer from the airport.
The prime minister of Nepal declared Monday a national day of mourning, and the government set up a panel to investigate the cause of the disaster.
Local resident Divya Dhakal told how she rushed to the crash site after seeing the aircraft plunge from the sky shortly after 11:00 am local time (05:15 GMT).
“By the time I was there the crash site was already crowded. There was huge smoke coming from the flames of the plane. And then helicopters came over in no time,” she said.
“The pilot tried his best to not hit civilization or any home,” she added. “There was a small space right beside the Seti River and the flight hit the ground in that small space.”
Aviation accidents are not uncommon in Nepal, often due to its remote runways and sudden weather changes that can make for hazardous conditions.
This Himalayan nation, home to some of the most breath-taking mountains in the world, has some of the most difficult terrain to navigate.
