A rescue team of Nepal Army carry the body of a plane crash victim at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 30, 2022. Twenty-one bodies have been recovered from the crash site of a Nepali passenger plane in a remote hilly area in Nepal's Mustang district, a local government official said on Monday. Ten bodies have been sent to Kathmandu in a helicopter, the official said.(Photo: Xinhua)

Nepali rescuers have retrieved the bodies of all 22 people on board a plane that crashed in the Himalayas, authorities said Tuesday.

"All bodies have now been found," Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Deo Chandra Lal Karn told AFP. "Processes will take place to identify the bodies."

Air traffic control lost contact with the Twin Otter plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air shortly after it took off from Pokhara in western Nepal on Sunday morning headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination.

The wreckage was found a day later strewn across a mountainside at around 14,500 feet (4,420 meters). All but one of the bodies were later recovered.

Four Indians and two Germans were onboard the twin-prop aircraft, along with 16 Nepalis.

The difficult terrain and poor weather have hampered the search parties. An image published in Nepali media showed uniformed rescue workers moving a body from the wreckage and using ropes to haul it onto a stretcher and up a steep, grassy ridge.
In Kathmandu, the capital, relatives of victims waited for the bodies to be brought back from the crash site. "I am waiting for my son's body," Maniram Pokhrel told Reuters, his voice choking. His son Utsav Pokhrel, 25, was the copilot.

Operated by privately owned Tara Air, the aircraft crashed in cloudy weather and the wreckage wasn't spotted until Monday morning by Nepal's army. 

The plane was headed to Jomsom, a popular tourist and pilgrimage site that lies about 80 kilometers northwest of Pokhara - usually a 20-minute flight. But the aircraft lost contact with the Pokhara control tower five minutes before it was due to land, airline officials said. 

Agencies