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       At least 68 people were killed on Sunday when a passenger aircraft crashed in Pokhara, a resort town in central Nepal, an official said.

       European passengers were also aboard the plane, which carried 72 people.

       It crashed while trying to land at a newly opened airport, causing the country's deadliest aviation accident in over three decades.

       Scores of rescuers and locals scoured the crash site near Pokhara International Airport for bodies throughout Sunday, said Tek Bahadur, a senior administrative officer in the Kaski district.

       The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew members, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported, quoting a spokesperson for Yeti Airlines.

       On board were five Indian nationals, four Russians, two Koreans, an Australian, an Argentinian, an Irishman and a Frenchman, reported Sudrashan Bardaula of Yeti Airlines.

       One witness said they saw the plane spinning violently in the air as it attempted to land.

       Wreckage was spread across a wide area after the impact, with debris on the edge of a cliff and in the ravine below.

       Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the plane was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara and he urged security personnel and the general public to help with the rescue efforts.

       Meet the Nepali teenagers raising awareness of human trafficking

       Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site to help search search for bodies, said the rescue efforts were hampered because of thick smoke and a raging fire that engulfed the aircraft.

       “The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage. I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him,” Tiwari said.

       It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.

       Some bodies, burned beyond recognition, were carried by firefighters to hospitals, where grief-stricken relatives had assembled.

       At Kathmandu airport, where the flight began, family members appeared distraught as they were escorted in and at times exchanged heated words with officials as they waited for information.

       Pokhara, located 200 km west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas.

       Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft. Nepalese soldiers were also involved in the rescue efforts at the crash site.

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       Russian officials and occupation authorities may be preparing for a mass deportation of Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories to the Russian Federation.

       The US media giant Bloomberg reported that the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, issued a government order in mid-December on “revenue mobilisation” that allocated up to €2.5 billion in extra spending for what Moscow calls ‘the potential resettlement’ of residents from the Kherson region to Russia.

       Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk responded to the Russian government’s order, stating that Russian officials and occupation authorities may be planning to deport more than 100,000 residents from the Kherson region to Russia under fears that Moscow's forces may lose further territory in war-torn Ukraine.

       Vereshchuk also said that Russian officials have forcibly resettled an unspecified number of Ukrainian citizens to 57 regions in Russia, including the Far East and Siberia.

       Wartime Deportation

       The Institute of the Study of War (ISW) continues to assess that the forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens to the Russian Federation likely amounts to a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign, in addition to apparent violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

       The think tank says that Russian occupation authorities are struggling to coerce residents in occupied territories to accept Russian passports.

       Mass deportation Ukraine

       According to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, Russia continues to resettle Ukrainian citizens.

       Zaporizhzhia's Russian-appointed regional governor, Yevhen Balytskyi, reported that Russian authorities are looking for more employees to work at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), as approximately 1,500 ZNPP workers refused to accept Russian passports and sign a contract with the Rosatom nuclear power plant to receive passes to access the ZNPP.

       In addition, the ISW said Russian authorities continue to import Russian citizens to serve in civilian roles in occupied territories.

       The Kremlin has not commented on reports of forced deportation or the 'filtration' of Ukrainian citizens to Russia.

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       After a day of relentless strikes on Saturday, five people are reported dead and 27 injured in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, with a large complex being directly hit.

       According to the head of the city’s military administration, Valentin Reznichenko, it is possible that there are still more people trapped under the debris of the destroyed building.

       Meanwhile, Kyiv has also experienced explosions, with air raid sirens sounding afterwards. It comes amid claims from the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, that they are in full control of the Donbas town of Soledar.

       Click on the video above to see more.