All bodies recovered from Nepal plane crash

Rescuers have recovered all 22 bodies from the site where a plane crashed on a mountainside in Nepal.

All the bodies were flown to Kathmandu and taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital where doctors are performing post-mortem examinations, Tara Air said in a statement.

The bodies will be handed over to relatives once autopsy is done, it said.

While 10 bodies were flown to Kathmandu on Monday, the remaining were brought by army helicopter on Tuesday. Relatives of the crash victims waited outside the hospital building for authorities to release the bodies.

The Tara Air turboprop Twin Otter aircraft lost contact with the airport tower on Sunday while flying on a scheduled 20-minute flight in an area of deep river gorges and mountaintops.

Four Indians and two Germans were on the plane, Tara Air said. The three crew members and other passengers were Nepali nationals, it said.

Local news reports said the passengers included two Nepali families, one with four members and the other with seven.

The plane crashed on Sunday in Sanosware in Mustang district close to the mountain town of Jomsom, where it was heading after taking off from the resort town of Pokhara, 125 miles west of the capital Kathmandu.

The plane’s destination is popular with foreign hikers who trek on its mountain trails, and with Indian and Nepalese pilgrims who visit the revered Muktinath temple.