A plane with 72 people on board has crashed near an airport in central Nepal and at least 40 bodies have been recovered, officials say.

The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to the tourist town of Pokhara crashed on landing, catching fire.

Videos posted on social media show an aircraft flying low over a populated area before spinning sharply.

There were 68 passengers on board, including at least 15 foreign nationals, and four crew members.

Hundreds of Nepalese soldiers are involved in the operation at the crash site in the gorge of the Seti River, just one and a half kilometres from the airport.

Video taken where the plane came down shows thick billowing black smoke and burning debris.

"We expect to recover more bodies," an army spokesman told Reuters, saying the plane "has broken into pieces".

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called an emergency meeting of his cabinet and urged state agencies to work on rescue operations.

Of the passengers, 53 are said to be Nepalese. There were five Indian, four Russians and two Koreans on the plane. There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France among others.

Aviation accidents are not uncommon in Nepal, often due to its remote runways and sudden weather changes that can make for hazardous conditions.

A Tara Air plane crashed in May 2022 in the northern Nepalese district of Mustang, killing 22 people.

In early 2018, 51 people were killed when a US-Bangla flight travelling from Dhaka in Bangladesh caught fire as it landed in Kathmandu.