A passenger plane carrying 22 people has crashed into the mountains minutes after taking off with search teams being sent to the site of the fire.
The small aircraft operated by a private airline was carrying 19 passengers and three crew members and disappeared in cloudy weather on Sunday morning, as it flew over a remote mountain range in Nepal.
Rescue workers say they have recovered the bodies of 20 of the 22 passengers, an aviation official in Kathmandu said today.
"Efforts are underway to bring the bodies to Kathmandu,'' Teknath Sitaula, a spokesman for the capital's Tribhuvan International Airport said.
Nepalese airline Tara Air said the 9N-AET lost contact at 10.07am local time and a helicopter was dispatched to the area where the last contact was made.
The 43-year-old plane had 13 Nepalis, four Indians, two Germans and three Nepalese crew members on board. Seven of the passengers were women, said the airline.
"There is very little chance to find survivors," said Deo Chandra Lal Karna, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
Tek Raj Sitaula, a spokesman for the Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, added: "The search for others is continuing."
The flight departed from the tourist town of Pokhara - some 125km northwest of the capital Kathmandu - and was on a 15-minute trip to the mountain town of Jomsom, about 80km to the northwest.
The plane crashed at the mouth of the Lamche river near Kowang.
State-owned Nepal Television said villagers saw an aircraft on fire at the source of the Lyanku Khola River at the foot of the Himalayan mountain Manapathi, in a district bordering Tibet.
The aircraft lost contact shortly after take off and, with no information on its whereabouts, a search operation was launched.
The 9N-AET's last contact was at Lete Pass, where a helicopter has been sent.
Netra Prasad Sharma, the most senior bureaucrat in the Mustang district, where the crash took place, said weather conditions remained challenging.
"There is very thick cloud in the area," he said. "The search for bodies is going on."
The plane took off in the morning for a 20-minute flight but lost contact with the control tower five minutes before it was due to land at Jomsom, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site, government officials said.
There has been heavy rain in the area in the past few days, but the flights - which involve flying between mountains and landing in a valley - have been able to continue operating as usual and no other issues have been reported.
The country's weather office said there had been thick cloud cover in the Pokhara-Jomson area since the morning.
Chiranjibi Rana, the chief district officer of Myagdi, said locals reported the plane made two circles at Khaibang before heading towards Kiti Danda near Lete Pass.
Mr Rana said: "A team of police has been mobilsed at the site. The site is a 12-hour walk from Lete.
“There are no human settlements in the area where locals last spotted the plane.
“As soon as the weather improves, the helicopter will begin aerial operations."
Witnesses at the mountainous terrain are said to have heard "an unusual sound" that could have been a "bang", local police officer Ram Kumar Dani told ANI.
He explained: "Locals from Titi have called and informed us that they have heard an unusual sound as if there was some bang. We are deploying a helicopter to the area for the search operation."
A land rescue-and-search team had been sent to the area near Mount Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest peak at 8,167 m (26,795 ft).
A Home Ministry spokesperson confirmed two helicopters have raced to search for the vanished aircraft and a Nepal Army chopper is also set to join the rescue.
"One search helicopter returned to Jomsom due to bad weather without locating the plane," the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement.
"Helicopters are ready to take off for search from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Jomsom once weather conditions improve.
"Army and police search teams have left towards the site."
Smita Sharma, a journalist in India, tweeted: "Unfortunate news of a tragedy coming in from Nepal.
"Hoping passengers are rescued. This is a challenging zone which has seen accidents in the past too. Reminded of the horrific air crash in 2012 in same sector. Prayers for all."
Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said the missing De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter aircraft with registration number 9N-AET made its first flight in April 1979.
A Tara Air aircraft previously also crashed in 2016 in the country.
Its website says the company has five Twin Otter planes in its fleet and added: "No other airlines in Nepal flies to the remote STOL (short takeoff and landing) sectors as extensively and frequently as we do.
"We transport essential supplies to the hinterlands, including food grains, medicines, relief materials and operate flights for rescue purposes."
The area in Nepal is popular among hikers and is also a pilgrimage spot among Indians and Nepalese because of the Muktinath temple.
Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Everest, has a record of air accidents.
Its weather can change suddenly and airstrips are typically sited in difficult-to-reach mountainous areas.
In early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crashed on landing and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
In 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
