Myron Love, a Sydney teacher with a passion for travel, had been holidaying through Asia when he boarded the ATR 72 Yeti airlines flight in Kathmandu.
There were 72 people on board the plane when it crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in Pokhara, marking Nepal’s deadliest aviation accident in three decades.
The Department of Foreign Affair and Trade has been unable to confirm whether Love is one of the 68 victims.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the department was providing consular support to Love’s family but he couldn’t provide any more details.
“Our hearts go out to all of the families of the crew and passengers of the Yeti Airlines flight which crashed in Nepal,” he said.
Love’s friend Sam Smith said he has ”never met a more genuine bloke in my life”.
“To hear that news yesterday is just super, super sad,” Smith said.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, a 27-minute flight.
It was carrying 68 passengers including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
Rescuers attended the crash site using ropes to pull out bodies from the wreckage amid thick smoke and raging fire.
A witness to the crash said he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began to attempt a landing, watching from the terrace of his house.
Gaurav Gurung said the plane fell nose-first towards its left and then crashed into the gorge.
“The plane caught fire after the crash. There was smoke everywhere,” Gurung said.
Another witness, Diwas Bohora, was on his terrace in Pokhara when he spotted the plane flying unusually low.
“It suddenly tilted just like a fighter plane tilts to dodge a missile… I thought it was going to come towards our homes,” he said.
The incident is Nepal’s deadliest crash in 30 years despite the country having a long history of aviation disasters, including 42 fatal crashes since 1946.
Pokhara International Airport was inaugurated two weeks ago but is now closed and is being scoured by crash investigators.