Nepalese officials on Tuesday confirmed that all the 22 people on board the plane that crashed last Sunday were killed after rescuers found and recovered the final body from the wreckage.

A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said they were waiting for favourable weather to transport the remaining bodies to Kathmandu from the crash site in the Himalayas.

Deo Chandra Lal Karn said that 10 bodies were brought to Kathmandu by helicopter on Monday evening.

Officials said the bodies would be identified before being handed over to family members.

The plane’s wreckage was found at an altitude of almost 4,500 metres in Sanosware in Mustang, a Himalayan district north-west of Kathmandu, more than 20 hours after it was first reported missing, according to the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Police said rescue efforts took longer than expected due to bad weather and challenging terrain.

There were three crew members and 19 passengers on board,16 were Nepali nationals, two were German, and four were Indian.

The Tara Airlines plane was making the short flight to Jomsom from Pokhara, a popular tourist hub around 200 kilometres west of Kathmandu, when it lost contact with air traffic control.

According to the Nepali Times, at least 74 people have died on the route in five plane crashes since 1997.

Nepalese authorities earlier on Monday said that they had formed a commission to investigate the crash.

(dpa/NAN)