<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least 44 people have been killed after an aircraft carrying 72 people crashed in Nepal.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The plane was flying from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara on Sunday when it crashed. Pokhara is a bustling tourist town about 200km (124 miles) west of Kathmandu.</div><div><br></div><div>There were 72 people on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, including four crew members, said airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula.</div><div><br></div><div>Nepal Police Spokesperson, Tek Prasad Rai, told Al Jazeera that the death toll has gone up to 44, adding that no survivors have been found so far.</div><div><br></div><div>Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, confirmed the figure.</div><div><br></div><div>“Thirty bodies have been recovered and sent to hospital,” Niroula told Reuters news agency. “Another 14 bodies are still lying at the crash site and authorities are bringing in a crane to move them.”</div><div><br></div><div>Local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft.</div><div><br></div><div>“Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire. All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers,” local official Gurudutta Dhakal said.</div><div><br></div><div>The craft made contact with the airport from Seti Gorge at 10:50am (05:05 GMT), the aviation authority said in a statement. “Then it crashed.”</div><div><br></div><div>“Half of the plane is on the hillside,” said Arun Tamu, a local resident, who told Reuters he reached the site minutes after the plane went down.</div><div><br></div><div>“The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river.”</div><div><br></div><div>Speaking to Al Jazeera from Kathmandu, Ramyata Limbu said locals in Pokhara asserted weather and visibility was “good” when the plane crashed.</div><div><br></div><div>“So its [the crash] shocking and surprising,” said Limbu. “Eyewitnesses said the plane was having problems before it crashed into a gorge close to the airport.”</div><div><br></div><div>Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has called an emergency cabinet meeting after the plane crash, a government statement said.</div><div><br></div><div>“I am deeply saddened by the sad and tragic accident of Yeti Airlines ANC ATR 72 which was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara with passengers,” he posted on Twitter.</div><div><br></div><div>“I sincerely appeal to the security personnel, all agencies of the Nepal government and the general public to start an effective rescue.”</div><div><br></div><div>A committee to investigate the crash has been formed by the government.</div><div><br></div><div>The crash is Nepal’s deadliest since March 2018, when a US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop flight from Dhaka crashed on landing in Kathmandu, killing 51 of the 71 people on board, according to Aviation Safety Network.</div><div><br></div><div>In May, a plane owned by Tara Air crashed less than 20 minutes after taking off from Pokhara.</div><div><br></div><div>At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal – home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where the weather can change suddenly and make for hazardous conditions. According to Al Jazeera reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>