A domestic plane has crashed while taking off from the airport serving Nepal's capital, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot who was the lone survivor.
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Authorities had pulled out all 18 bodies, police official Basanta Rajauri said.
The only survivor was the pilot, who was taken to hospital for treatment, said a doctor at the hospital who was not authorised to speak to media.
The pilot had eye injuries but was not in any danger, the doctor said.
The bodies have been taken to a hospital for autopsy.
The airline manifest showed there were two pilots and 17 passengers on board, among them there was only one female.
The crew and 16 passengers were Nepali nationals, with one identified as a foreigner but no nationality was disclosed.
The Saurya Airlines plane was heading from Kathmandu to the resort town of Pokhara.
It was not clear how it slipped.
Local media images showed smoke rising and plane wreckage scattered all over a ditch.
A fire was brought under control.
Tribhuvan International Airport, the main airport in Nepal for international and domestic flights, has been closed as emergency crew worked.
It is monsoon rainy season in Kathmandu but was not raining at the time of the crash.
Visibility was low across the capital, however.
Saurya Airlines operates the Bombardier CRJ 200 on domestic routes.
The Kathmandu airport, the main airport serving Nepal, is inside a valley surrounded by mountains on most sides.
It is considered a challenging airport for pilots and bigger planes have to come through an opening on the mountain to land. It is right next to the city.
In 2019, a Bangladeshi airliner crashed at Tribhuvan airport, killing 51 people while 20 on board survived.
An investigation confirmed the plane was misaligned with the runway and its pilot was disoriented and tried to land in "sheer desperation" when the plane crashed.
In 2015, a Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog skidded off a slippery runway at the airport.
The plane was carrying 238 people but there were no serious injuries.
Australian Associated Press
