KATHMANDU, Nepal — A passenger plane from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed Monday at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal, killing at least 38 people, officials and witnesses said.
The twin propeller plane, a Bombardier Dash 8, was carrying 67 passengers including 32 passengers from Bangladesh, 33 from Nepal and one each from China and the Maldives.
A police official says at least 38 people were killed and 23 injured — some of whom were taken away by ambulance — when the plane crashed as it landed at the Kathmandu airport in Nepal.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said 10 people remained unaccounted for in Monday's crash.
Airline spokesman Kamrul Islam says there were four crewmembers on board, but did not provide their nationalities.
The plane swerved repeatedly before it crashed, landing near the runway and bursting into flames.
According to an AP journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the crash, the US-Bangla Airlines plane was broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers clustered around the wreckage.
Amanda Summers, an American who works in Nepal, watched the crash happen from the terrace of her home office, not far from the airport.
"It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains," she said. She said it was unclear if it had reached the runway when it landed.
"All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast," she said.
Fire crews put out the flames very quickly, perhaps within a minute, she said, though clouds of thick, dark smoke rose into the sky above Kathmandu, the capital of the Himalayan nation.
Selim, the US-Bangla manager, said the plane had circled the airport twice as it waited for clearance to land.
US-Bangla Airlines operates Boeing 737-800 and smaller Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 planes.
The airline, part of US-Bangla Group, is based in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and flies to several domestic and international destinations. The parent company is involved in a number of industries, including real estate, education and agriculture.
Kathmandu's airport has been the site of several deadly crashes. In September 2012, a Sita Air turboprop plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest hit a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 19 on board.