Australian on-board crashed Yeti Airlines plane

Terrifying footage has emerged appearing to show the final moments of a doomed passenger plane, as it has emerged an Australian was on-board.

An Australian was reportedly on-board a plane that crashed in Nepal, in the Himalayan country’s worst aircraft tragedy in nearly five years.

There were also five Indians, four Russians, one Irish, two South Korean, one French and one Argentinian national on-board the Yeti Airways aircraft, according to a Nepal airport official.

It is not known if the Australian was among the dead.

In total, there were 72 people on board the ATR-72 turboprop when it crashed on Sunday.

The rescue effort is currently underway, and at least 67 people are confirmed dead, police said.

“Thirty-one (bodies) have been taken to hospitals,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP, adding that 36 other bodies were found in the gorge where the aircraft crashed.

The crash happened short of the international airport in Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city situated 200km west of the capital Kathmandu.

The airport is new having only just opened on New Year’s Day.

Local authorities said the aeroplane landed in the Seti Gorge, which bisects Pokhara at 10.50am on Sunday (4.05pm AEDT).

Pokhara is major tourist drawcard in Nepal serving as base for trekking in the Himalayas.

It is alarming footage. Picture: Twitter

The plane can be seen coming lower. Picture: Twitter

Footage moments before crash

Horrifying footage has emerged appearing to show the final moments of the doomed passenger plane before it crashed.

The video, which has been shared on social media, shows what is reported to be the Yeti Airlines plane flying low towards what appears to be a residential building before abruptly turning 90 degrees and coming even lower to the ground.

It then disappears from view before the camera is turned towards the ground. Then there is a loud noise, followed by what sounds like screams.

Journalist for the BBC and CNN, Wajahat Kazmi, shared the footage and said: “Horrifying last moments of an ATR plane crash from Nepal in Pokhara that was bound for Kathmandu.”

Horrifying last moments of an ATR plane crash from Nepal in Pokhara that was bound for Kathmandu. All 72 people on board are dead. pic.twitter.com/4JZIvnThPQ

— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) January 15, 2023

Breaking- #Yeti Airlines plane going from #Kathmandu to Pokhara #crashed.

Yeti Airlines ATR-72 aircraft crashes near Pokhara

68 passengers on board.#BreakingNewspic.twitter.com/Q1caOtysUF

— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) January 15, 2023

Airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told AFP it’s unknown if there are survivors.

“There are 68 passengers on board and four crew members,” he said.

“Rescue is underway, we don’t know right now if there are survivors.”

Hundreds of rescue workers continued to scour the site in the hope of finding someone still alive.

Pokhara is situated 200km west of Kathmandu. Picture: Google Maps.

Mr Bartaula said the plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.

The wreckage was on fire and rescue workers were trying to put out the blaze, said local official Gurudutta Dhakal.

Arun Tamu, a local resident, told Reuters that he had witness the aftermath of the crash.

“Half of the plane is on the hillside. The other half has fallen into the gorge of the Seti river.”

Dozens of people were killed on Sunday when an aircraft of domestic carrier Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara in Nepal. Picture: Twitter

“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,” Dhakal said.

Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.

But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance.

A view of Pokhara Airport, where Yeti Airlines plane carrying more than 70 people crashes in Pokhara, Nepal January 15, 2023. Picture: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Aircraft type in previous fatal incidents

The Yeti Airlines’ ATR-72 was 15 years old. The French/Italian aircraft type is popular around the world and is primarily used on shorter, regional routes. None are operated by Australian airlines but the ATR-72 is in service with Air New Zealand which has 29 in its fleet.

Since its introduction in 1989, the ATR-72 has been involved in 12 fatal incidents with around 400 fatalities.

An Air New Zealand ATR-72 turboprop, similar to the type that crashed in Nepal. Picture: Supplied.

The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.

The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

Rescuers inspect the site of a plane crash in Pokhara on January 15, 2023. Picture: Yunish Gurung/AFP

Aircraft operators say Nepal lacks infrastructure for accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where deadly crashes have taken place in the past.

Rescuers and onlookers gather at the site of a plane crash in Pokhara. Picture: Krishna Mani Baral/AFP

The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

In May 2022, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air – 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans – died when it crashed.

Air traffic control lost contact with the twin-propeller Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.

Its wreckage was found a day later, strewn across a mountainside at an altitude of around 4400 metres.

The wreckage of a Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air, lay on a mountainside in Mustang on May 30, 2022, a day after it crashed. Picture: Bishal Magar/AFP

About 60 people were involved in the search mission, most of whom trekked uphill for miles to get there.

After that crash authorities tightened regulations, including that planes would only be cleared to fly if there was favourable weather forecast throughout the route.

In March 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines plane crash-landed near Kathmandu’s notoriously difficult international airport, killing 51 people.

A Nepali rescue worker looks at wreckage of an US-Bangla Airlines plane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on March 12, 2018. Picture: Prakash Mathema/AFP

That accident was Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu.

Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways aircraft crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people.

– With AFP