Plane carrying 19 people crashes in Nepal

At least 19 people are feared dead after a plane crashed near Kathmandu in Nepal on Friday, a police official and state television said.

The Dornier aircraft, owned by private firm Sita Air, was flying from Kathmandu to Lukla in the Mount Everest region, popular with foreign mountain climbers and trekkers.

"It caught fire and crashed within two minutes after taking off from Kathmandu," police spokesman Binod Singh said. "We have rushed rescuers to the site."

State-owned Nepal Television said the plane was carrying 19 people including 16 passengers and a crew of three. "All of them are feared killed," it said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. In May this year 15 people were killed when their plane crashed on a hill in the northwest of the country.

-Reuters