Nepal Army Rules Out Possibility of Survivors in Plane Crash

The plane was carrying 20 passengers, including two tourists, and three crew members.

"Our team has started collecting the dead bodies but there is no chance of finding anyone alive," Army Spokesman Tara Bahadur Karki, told EFE.

According to Karki, it will take some time to recover all the bodies as the aircraft is still burning.

The plane was found in a difficult terrain at a height of around 4,900 meters (16,076 ft) in Dana in Myagdi district.

Myagdi Police Chief Bishwo Khadka confirmed to EFE there are no hopes of finding any of the 23 people alive, adding only 17 bodies have been recovered so far.

"We are searching for the remaining six bodies," he said, adding that in some cases they had only found body parts.

The Army and the Police have installed a camp in the Ghasa region, where the bodies will first be taken before being transported to capital Kathmandu, said Khadka.

A police constable, Phul Kumar Thapa, told EFE from the crash site that plane parts were spread in an area of some 100 meters (328 ft) where he saw "bodies and body parts scattered here and there."

Three helicopters and a battalion of 72 soldiers were part of the search operation for the missing plane.

Tara, the airline company which owned the aircraft, said in a statement, the weather conditions at the airport of origin as well as at the destination airport were good at the time the plane disappeared.

The Viking 9N-AHH aircraft took off from Pokhara at 7:47 a.m. Wednesday and was headed to the high-altitude Jomsom, but lost contact 11 minutes later.