Search teams of the army and the police Wednesday afternoon found the four bodies of passengers and crew of a Twin Otter aircraft of the Skyline Airways that crashed against Gargare Danda 10 kms north of Surkhet and 490 kms west of the capital, civil aviation officials said.

The bodies of four passengers and crew have been airlifted to Surkhet from the accident site. The aircraft lost contact with Surkhet airport tower at 2.22 PM or 18 minutes after takeoff from Jumla on a 25 minute flight to Surkhet district headquarters.

First reports said the aircraft hit a tree and crashed against the hill in bad weather condition. The aircraft wreckage was strewn over a wide area, rescuers said.

The government has sent two investigation teams to the accident site from the capital. Two search and rescue helicopters sighted the wreckage minutes after the aircraft lost contact with the Surkhet airport tower.

A Russian helicopter believed to have crashed against a remote cliff in June in the Makalu/Evetrest area at the end of the spring climbing season with 10 passengers and crew has not been sighted as yet despite a Rs.200,000 reward for information leading to its sighting.

The four bodies will be flown to Kathmandu Thursday. The government has formed a seven member investigation commission under the chairmanship of Deputy Attorney General Nanda Bahadur Subedi to probe the crash, an announcement said. nepalnews.com br July 17