ANKARA

Rescuers on Monday discovered the black boxes of the ill-fated Nepal plane, which crashed before landing in Pokhara a day earlier with 68 passengers and four crew members on board.

After finding 68 bodies until Sunday evening, rescue teams began their search for the four people on Monday morning, according to Teknath Situla, a spokesman for Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, who told Anadolu that the rescuers have discovered the plane's black boxes as well as one more body.

The country's civil aviation authority CAAN's spokesman Jagannath Niraula told Anadolu that the black boxes of the Yeti Airlines plane were found on Monday morning and handed over to the investigation committee.

Pemba Sherpa, a Yeti Airlines official told the leading Turkish news agency that there are no survivors from the tragic crash. "We have yet to recover three bodies. The search is still ongoing," he added.

The black box is a crucial device that helps determine the cause of the crash, and contains the flight radar record and cockpit voice recorder.

So far, the bodies of 69 people have been recovered, according to the official, who cited a statement from the CAAN. The tragedy has been described as the country's deadliest in more than 30 years.

Nepal Army spokesman Krishna Bhandari told Anadolu that the search operation was paused late Sunday night owing to the darkness, but resumed early Monday.

Bhandari said the rescue teams have not found any survivors yet at the crash site.

“There are many reasons for plane crashes, it takes time to understand the actual reason. But as far as we can see, the plane fell due to imbalance,” airport officials told Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who arrived at the Tribhuvan International Airport after the incident, according to local media.

During the briefing, it was said the pilot took the plane to the gorge to protect the settlement. “The plane did not crash in the settlement, it went down in the gorge,” the officials said in the briefing.

“The exact reason will be revealed after the investigation."

Earlier, the government formed a five-member committee to investigate the plane crash and submit a report within 45 days, according to government spokesperson and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

He said the government has ordered a technical check of all domestic planes, and the government would implement the report of the investigation panel to prevent future accidents.

Last year, 22 people were killed when a private plane operated by Nepal's Tara Air crashed shortly after taking off from Pokhara.

*Ahmed Adil contributed to this story from New Delhi