KATHMANDU: A Bangladeshi aircraft carrying 67 passengers and four crewcrashed on Monday while coming in to land at the airport in the Nepalicapital, Kathmandu, an airport official said, adding that 17 people onboard had been rescued.

The state of the other people on the flight from the Bangladeshi capital,Dhaka, operated by US-Bangla Airlines, was not clear, airport spokesmanBirendra Prasad Shrestha said.

“We are trying to bring the fire under control. Details are awaited,” hesaid, adding that the airport had been shut down and all other flightsdiverted.

“We’re now concentrating on evacuating the passengers.”

Television images showed smoke rising from the crash site.

Mountainous Nepal is notorious for air accidents. Small aircraft often runinto trouble at provincial airstrips.

A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok crashed while trying to land inKathmandu in 1992 killing all on board.

US-Bangla Airlines is a unit of the US-Bangla Group, a US Bangladeshi jointventure company.

The Bangladeshi carrier launched operations in July 2014 and operatesBombardier Inc and Boeing aircraft. – Agencies