Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A passenger plane crashed while landing in Nepal. According to available information, there were 72 people on board. According to preliminary data, all of them died, TASS reports.

The crash of an ATR 72 passenger plane in Nepal occurred in front of visitors to the local aviation club. One of them spoke about the extremely low altitude at which the plane came in for landing, two working engines and loss of speed before the crash.

The bodies of 40 people have already been found at the crash site, officials say.

Hundreds of Nepalese army soldiers are involved in the rescue operation at the crash site in the Seti River Gorge, just one and a half kilometers from the airport.

"We expect to find more dead bodies," an army spokesman told Reuters, adding that the plane broke apart in the crash.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency meeting of his cabinet.

According to reports, 53 of the passengers are Nepalese. There were five Indians, four Russians and two Koreans on the plane. Also among the passengers was one person each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.

Aviation accidents in Nepal are not uncommon: airstrips are often located in remote mountainous areas, and abrupt changes in the weather in the mountains create additional hazards, especially during takeoff and landing.

In May 2022, a Tara Air plane crashed in northern Nepal, killing 22 people.

In early 2018, 51 people were killed when a US-Bangla airliner caught fire while landing in Kathmandu.