No One Expected to Have Survived Nepal Plane Crash

Police are warning that there are unlikely to be any survivors of Sunday's devastating plane crash in Nepal. At least 68 of the 72 people aboard the passenger plane, which crashed in a popular Himalayan tourist area as it attempted to land, were confirmed to have been killed soon after the crash. A 300-strong group of police, soldiers, and rescue workers resumed their search Monday, as Nepal began a national day of mourning, the BBC reports. But teams were reportedly finding body parts as they combed through debris at the nearly 1,000-foot gorge of the Seti River where the plane ended up in Pokhara.

Also Monday, a government panel was created to investigate the cause of the disaster, which is not yet clear. In witness footage, the Yeti Airlines plane can be seen veering sharply to the left before going down, the AP reports. One witness says the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was spinning as it descended to land, then fell nose-first to the left and crashed before bursting into flames. The rescue effort, some witnesses say, may have been hurt by the fire: "The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage," says one local. "I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him." (More Nepal stories.)