'Pained by tragic plane crash in Nepal', tweets PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he was pained by the tragic air crash in Nepal in which precious lives have been lost, including Indian nationals.

At least 68 people were killed when a Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people onboard, including five Indians, crashed into a river gorge while landing at the newly-opened airport in central Nepal's resort city of Pokhara on Sunday in the Himalayan nation's deadliest aviation accident in over 30 years.

Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:33 am and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

"Pained by the tragic air crash in Nepal in which precious lives have been lost, including Indian nationals. In this hour of grief, my thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families," Modi said in a tweet and tagged Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda '.