So far, rescuers have discovered 21 bodies near the accident site of an aircraft that crashed in northern Nepal.

The little aircraft was carrying 22 passengers, and the hunt for the final missing passenger is still ongoing.

The jet had been flying for 20 minutes when it lost communication with air traffic control five minutes before landing.

The plane’s wreckage was discovered in the Mustang area, operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air.

“We have identified 20 victims, and the body of an extra person has been recovered, and rescuers are attempting to recover it from tough mountain terrain,” Deo Chandra Lal Karn, a spokesperson for the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, told the BBC on Monday.

“Rescuers are currently scouring the accident scene for a missing person,” he added.

According to sources, the aircraft carried four Indians, two Germans, and 16 Nepalis. However, terrible weather and steep terrain have impeded search efforts.

The ruins of the jet, visibly carrying its registered call sign 9N-AET, were seen in images uploaded on Twitter by a spokesperson for the Nepalese Army.

“Search and rescue forces have physically discovered the jet accident site,” Narayan Silwal said earlier on Twitter, after a nearly 24-hour search for the wreckage.

The plane, which was built by de Havilland in Canada, took off from the tourist town of Pokhara at approximately 0955 local times on Sunday (04:10 GMT). It was on its way to Jomsom, which is a major tourist and pilgrimage destination.

The Nepalese government has announced the formation of a commission to examine the deadly tragedy.

Nepal has a long history of aviation mishaps, which are generally caused by abrupt weather changes and airstrips placed in difficult-to-reach mountainous terrain.

A US-Bangla airplane carrying 71 passengers from Dhaka, Bangladesh, caught fire upon landing in Kathmandu in early 2018, killing 51 people.

In April 2019, three individuals died in a plane accident at Lukla Airport after the jet swerved off the runway and collided with a stalled chopper – one of the most difficult runways to handle.