AKIPRESS.COM - Rescue teams in Nepal have found the burnt-out wreckage of a passenger plane that went missing in a remote mountainous areawith 23 people onboard, the aviation minister said.

Ananda Prasad Pokharel said the Twin Otter turboprop aircraft had been found in the western district of Myagdi on Wednesday and bodies could be seen scattered around it, media reports said.

“The wreckage of the plane was found in a completely burnt state in Solighopte in Myagdi district,” said Pokharel, minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation.

“The team there say that the bodies are scattered and it is not possible to identify anyone right now. More security agencies are being deployed and we are trying to get more information.”

The army had deployed helicopters and soldiers to search Myagdi, a mountainous district about 160 miles (220km) west of Kathmandu, after locals reported seeing possible wreckage of the Tara Air plane.

The airline said the plane was carrying three crew and 20 passengers, one a Chinese and one a Kuwaiti national, revising an earlier figure of 18 passengers.

All the others were from Nepal and two of them were children.