Скачать или смотреть Nepal: 68 dead, 4 missing after plane crashes in resort town

As search efforts ended for the day, 68 people were confirmed dead after a regional passenger plane with 72 aboard crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara on Sunday, January 15, according to Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority. It's the country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades.

Scores of rescue workers and onlookers crowded near a steep gorge hours after dark Sunday, as rescuers combed the wreckage on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below. Officials suspended the search for the four missing people overnight and will resume looking Monday.

As search efforts ended for the day, 68 people were confirmed dead after a regional passenger plane with 72 aboard crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara on Sunday, January 15, according to Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority. It's the country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades.

Scores of rescue workers and onlookers crowded near a steep gorge hours after dark Sunday, as rescuers combed the wreckage on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below. Officials suspended the search for the four missing people overnight and will resume looking Monday.

Pokhara's international airport, which opened on January 1 is meant to gradually replace the old one, established in 1958. The city in central Nepal is a gateway to religious pilgrims and international trekkers.

A witness said he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began to attempt a landing, watching from the terrace of his house. Gaurav Gurung said the plane fell nose-first towards its left and then crashed into the gorge.

At the crash site near the Seti River, about 1.6 kilometers (nearly a mile) away from Pokhara International Airport, rescuers sprayed fire hoses and heaved ropes down to another smoldering part of the wreck below. Some bodies, burned beyond recognition, were carried by firefighters to hospitals, where grief-stricken relatives had assembled. At Kathmandu airport, family members appeared distraught as they were escorted in and at times exchanged heated words with officials as they waited for information.