All 22 people aboard a small plane were killed when it crashed in Nepal's rugged east, searchers said today after finding he wreckage on a mountainside.
The plane went missing on Wednesday.
The wreckage was found about 100 miles east of Katmandu, the Rescue Coordination Committee at Katmandu Airport said.
It was not yet clear what caused the crash, killing the 19 passengers and three crew members.
The plane had been chartered to carry pilgrims to a Hindu temple and was on its way back to the capital.
Debris from the plane was scattered over a 1,000-foot radius on the side of a mountain, police official Bhesh Bahadur Thapa said in a telephone interview from a station near the crash site.
Thapa said rescuers were collecting the bodies and sending them back to Katmandu.
The Canadian-built Twin Otter aircraft operated by domestic Tara Air took off Wednesday from Lamidanda, about 200 miles east of Katmandu, and then disappeared.
Airport official Dinesh Shrestha said three rescue aircraft including an army helicopter scoured the area Wednesday evening and early Thursday and located the crash site.
The three crew members and 18 of the passengers were Nepali nationals, while another passenger was a Tibetan holding a U.S. passport.
Further details about their identities were not available.
The plane went missing on Wednesday.
The wreckage was found about 100 miles east of Katmandu, the Rescue Coordination Committee at Katmandu Airport said.
A Tara Air Twin Otter aircraft like this one went missing in Nepal on Wednesday. The wreckage was found on the side of a mountain on Thursday and all 22 onboard were dead
Nepalese soldiers carry the body of a victim killed in the crash as it arrives in Kathmandu Thursday. As they are recovered all the bodies are being flown to the Nepalese capital
The plane had been chartered to carry pilgrims to a Hindu temple and was on its way back to the capital.
Debris from the plane was scattered over a 1,000-foot radius on the side of a mountain, police official Bhesh Bahadur Thapa said in a telephone interview from a station near the crash site.
Thapa said rescuers were collecting the bodies and sending them back to Katmandu.
Sujata Shrestha, mother of air stewardess Sidikshha Gurung, cries after learning the fate of her daughter's flight
Airport official Dinesh Shrestha said three rescue aircraft including an army helicopter scoured the area Wednesday evening and early Thursday and located the crash site.
The three crew members and 18 of the passengers were Nepali nationals, while another passenger was a Tibetan holding a U.S. passport.
Further details about their identities were not available.