Bodies have been found "scattered everywhere" among the burning wreckage at the crash site of a passenger plane which vanished shortly after take-off in Nepal.

Officials said the aircraft took off from Pokhara, a resort town 125 miles west of Kathmandu, and was heading north to Jomsom, the starting point for trekkers going into mountainous areas.

Nepal's aviation minister Aananda Prasad Pokharel said the aircraft had been found in the western district of Myagdi and bodies could be seen scattered around it.

The plane, with registration 9N-AHH, had taken off at 7:50 a.m. It was found crashed at around 1:30 p.m.

Squads of the Army, the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police had collected 19 bodies from the wreckage so far.

"All 23 on board have been killed, including two infants," said Tara Air in a statement.

Among the deceased, two were foreign nationals - one Chinese and one Kuwaiti. All others, including three crew members and two children, were Nepali nationals.

Tara Air said Captain Roshan Manandhar, 54 years old, had 18,500 hours of flying experience on Twin Otter aircraft mostly in STOL airports out of total 12,108 hours. Co-pilot Dikesh Nemkul had completed 400 flying hours over 2 years.