A plane carrying 72 people has crashed near Pokhara International Airport in Nepal.
At least 68 people are thought to have died with rescue efforts ongoing.
An airport official told Reuters news agency that one Irish person was onboard the flight
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The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is “aware of reports of the involvement of an Irish citizen in an airplane crash in Nepal and stands ready to provide consular assistance if requested”.
Initial unconfirmed reports say there were a total of 15 foreign nationals on the Yeti Airlines flight - five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, one Australian, one French, one Argentine and two South Koreans, the Kathmandu Post reported.
An airline spokesperson confirmed that there were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti, including two infants and four crew members.
Reports say the plane crashed as it was coming in to land, around 11.10am local time (05.25am Irish time)
It comes as a distressing video has captured the jet’s final moments.
It shows the low-flying plane en route from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara lurching to the right and apparently overturning as it hit the ground.
The footage filmed from a terrace included the noise of the moment of impact after the aircraft came down.
Reports said the aircraft crashed into forested land on the banks of the Seti Gandaki River.
Army spokesman Krishna Bhandari told local media:"We expect to recover more bodies. The plane has broken into pieces.”
The crash is Nepal's deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu. 51 of the 71 people on board were killed.
Nepal, which contains eight of the world's 14 tallest mountains, has been branded one of the most difficult places to fly in the world.
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