18 bodies have been recovered after a horror plane crash in Nepal (Image: X)
At least 22 people have been killed after a plane crashed in Nepal.
Police say that 18 of the 19 on board the plane died, while the remaining four were bystanders caught as the Saurya Airlines plane skidded off the runway at Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu.
Airport security chief Arjun Chand Thakuri said the aircraft "caught fire" as it left the runway moments before it crashed.
Doctors said the pilot of the aircraft suffered injuries to the eyes but is in a stable condition.
Tej Bahadur Poudyal, a spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, said: "Only the captain was rescued alive and is receiving treatment at a hospital."
The passenger plane was heading from Kathmandu to the resort town of Pokhara.
Rescuers and emergency services scour the wreckage (Image: Getty )
Local media images showed smoke rising and plane wreckage scattered all over a ditch. A fire from the disaster has now been brought under control.
Tribhuvan International Airport, the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights, has been closed as emergency crew worked.
It is monsoon rainy season in Kathmandu but it was not raining at the time of the crash, although visibility was low across the capital.
Saurya Airlines operates the Bombardier CRJ 200 on domestic routes.
Smoke seen rising from the tragic scene in Nepal (Image: Getty)
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Nepal has been criticised previously for its poor air saftey record. In January last year at least 72 people died in a Yeti Airlines crash that investigators later said was caused by pilot error.
In 2019, a Bangladeshi airliner crashed at Tribhuvan airport, killing 51 people while 20 on board survived. An investigation confirmed the plane was misaligned with the runway and its pilot was disoriented and tried to land in “sheer desperation” when the plane crashed.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog skidded off a slippery runway at the airport. The plane was carrying 238 people but there were no serious injuries.