Six foreigners, five Nepali and three crew members have been killed in the misfortune, eyewitnesses confirmed. The deceased crew members have been identified as Captain Laxman Prakash Bikram Shah, Co-Pilot Sofia Singh and Air Hostess Sarah Sherpa.

Five deceased passengers have been identified as Ishwor Rijal, Prakash Amgain, K. Rai, P. Bhote and P. Sherpa, Police Spokesperson Beegyan Raj Sharma informed.

Four Americans, one British and one Japanese national are among the deceased foreigners, he added.

The ill-starred Dornier plane was en route to the Capital from Lukla airport near the Mount Everest.

The exact cause of the accident is not known, but officials suspect bad weather could have led to the crash.

However, sources have informed that Pilot Shah had contacted the control unit at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and reported an engine failure before the mishap.

Locals of Makawanpur told Radio Kantipur that the plane crashed into a field in Shikharpur village, which lies south west of Kathmandu.

“The plane remains broken into pieces in the field right next to a school building,” Pratap Lama, a local said.

“The human bodies also remain in pieces … we are just shocked.”

He added, “There was no big noise or any fire that we noticed before the crash.”

Meanwhile, a Nepal Army team from Phaparbari and a police team from Hattisude have been deployed in the incident site for rescue purposes.

Rescue teams have left for the accident spot from the Capital as well.