Ammon News - At least 16 people have been killed in a plane crash in Nepal, an army spokesman has confirmed.

A Yeti Airlines flight travelling from Kathmandu to Pokhara crash landed on Sunday morning, a company representative told local media.

"We expect to recover more bodies," Krishna Bhandari told Reuters.

"The plane has broken into pieces."

There were 68 passengers and four crew aboard the ATR 72 aircraft that crashed between Pokhara’s old airport and the new international airport, the Kathmandu Post quoted Yeti Airlines spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula as saying.

Hundreds of rescue workers are now scouring the hilltop crash site.

At least 10 foreign nationals were also on board, said Mr Bhandari.

Images and video posted on social media showed heavy smoke rising after the crash.
The city's international airport was only opened on January 1.

Plane crashes are common in Nepal, which has a poor flight safety record.

Yeti Airlines is the country's second largest national carrier after Buddha Air. In 2018, it was voted one of the world's worst airlines.

Nepali airlines are banned from European Union airspace since 2013 after eight Britons were killed in a Kathmandu plane crash.

Its airports are notoriously difficult to land in.

In May, 22 people died after a plane crashed while flying in a mountainous area after departing from Pokhara, a popular tourist destination.